Woman climber goes missing
Kolkata: Chhanda Gayen, the second woman from West Bengal to conquer Mount Everest, went missing on Tuesday in her attempt to climb the Kanchenjunga West summit.
Chhanda Gayen, the second woman from the state to conquer Mount Everest, went missing on Tuesday in her attempt to climb Kanchenjunga West summit. Ms Gayen went missing only days after scaling Kanchenjunga main peak.
As soon as the news of Ms Gayen’s disappearance reached Nabanna, the chief minister held a meeting with chief secretary Sanjay Mitra and youth welfare minister Arup Biswas. The chieft secretary sought the help of ministry of external affais ( MEA) to coordinate with the Nepal government for the rescue operation. The state government is also sending a team of mountaineers to Nepal.
Ms Gayen and two sherpas went missing on Tuesday when they were caught in an avalanche. Ms Gayen was trying to climb Kangchenjunga West after conquering Kangchenjunga Main on Sunday. On Sunday, she climbed Kanchenjunga Main peak with other mountaineers from the state Tusi Das, Dipankar Ghosh and Rajib Bhattacharya.
They all returned to the base camp. However, Ms Gayen with two sherpas Dawa Wangchu and Mingma Temba set out to climb 8,505 metre high Kanchenjunga West which is known as Yalung Kang in Nepal.
She had climbed Mount Everest last year. “Chhanda Gayen and two of sherpas who had gone on an expedition to Kanchenjunga have gone missing. We have contacted the Nepal government and the external affairs ministry to ensure they are rescued at the earliest,” Mr Biswas said.
According to a state mountaineer, it was extremely hazardous to climb Kanchenjuga. “It has vertical wall and sharp cliff. Very few climbers have shown the courage to scale Kanchenjunga West,” he added.