Evacuation for Malaysian climber

> Airlifted by helicopter due to severe chest pain and breathing difficulties

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian mountaineer James Lee Chong Meng (pix), who was on a mission to reach the summit of Mount Everest, was airlifted by helicopter on an emergency evacuation to a Kathmandu hospital in Nepal yesterday due to severe chest pain.

He was scheduled to ascend to Camp 3 and to the summit from Camp 4 on Saturday.

“He was admitted and medically treated. He is now recovering and may be discharged soon,” according to a statement from the organisers of the expedition.

It said that Lee, 69, Malaysia’s oldest mountaineer, experienced chest pain and breathing difficulties at Camp 2 on Thursday.

“He was in a state of breathlessness and had to use oxygen at night when sleeping,” it said.

Lee’s chest pain worsened the following day and he was unable to lie down to sleep due to stomach pain.

During his first attempt to scale Mount Everest in May last year, Lee had to abort the climb at the final stage at Camp 3 at a height of 7,200m due to bad weather. Everest is the world’s tallest mountain, at 8,848m high. The Malaysian National News Agency (Bernama) is a media partner of the mission, officially called the Lion Mount Everest Expedition (MEE) 2017, and is organised by the Lions Club Port Dickson Pantai. Lee is carrying MEE’s two important messages, namely to inspire people of all ages to capitalise on good health to be active in society, and to draw attention on the need to preserve the environment. – Bernama