KATHMANDU: A Malaysian climber, who had gone missing on Mt Annapurna since Tuesday evening, has been spotted alive above Camp IV on Thursday morning.

Mingma Sherpa, Chairman at Seven Summit Treks, said that Wui Kin Chin was spotted waving his arms at 7,500 m on Mt Annapurna when an aerial search was conducted this morning. Senior Anaesthesiologist Kin Chin went missing while descending from the summit point of Mt Annapurna, the tenth highest mountain in the world.

Despite being deprived of supplemental oxygen, food and water for more than 40 hours, Kin Chin survived in sub-zero temperatures, Sherpa, who is now at Mt Annapurna base camp to coordinate rescue mission, told THT.

“An aerial search was conducted early morning to locate the missing climber,” Sherpa said, adding that Kin Chin was found waving down the search team when a helicopter arrived there at around 8:00 am.

“Then, another team of longline rescuers was sent from the base camp to evacuate the climber,” he said. According to him, a team of high-altitude climbers comprising Nirmal Purja, Mingma David Sherpa, Galgen Sherpa and Gesman Tamang flew to Camp III to rescue the climber at around 12:50 pm. The team is now on its way to Camp IV to rescue the stranded climber.

The 49-year-old University of Melbourne alumnus was a part of the 13-member expedition led by French climber Barobian Michel Christian. “Kin Chin among 32 climbers successfully stood atop the 8,091-metre mountain at around 4:10pm on Tuesday," Sherpa said, adding that other climbers have already descended to the base camp.

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