Attacked by a yak
Everest Brit gored as she chatted on FaceTime call
A BRITISH woman was gored by a yak as she chatted on her phone while on a Mount Everest trek.
Emma Keen, 42, was left bleeding heavily after the animal’s horn went “through her leg”, leaving her with a three-inch cut needing 10 stitches.
She had been showing the yak to her brother as they talked on FaceTime when the furious animal suddenly charged at her.
The shop manager, who was on the fourth day of an 80-mile charity fundraising trek, said: “Without warning, I could hear the hoofs pounding towards me, a sharp stabbing pain in the top of my leg.
“It threw me in the air around a metre and I landed back down with a thud. Clutching my upper leg, I looked and the yak was dragging its hoof in the dusty ground ready to go at me for a second time with his horns down. I screamed and managed to raise my leg and shout.”
Help
Luckily, they were near the Nepalese village of Tengboche, at 12,700ft, and a fellow team member hurried there to get help.
With them on the trek was firefighter Carl Marsh, who was able to help her due to his medical training.
He said: “One of the team came running into the tea house screaming for help, saying Emma had just been attacked by a yak.
“We moved Emma to a safe place away from the danger. She was screaming in pain and I could see her leg with a big hole in her hiking leggings and blood running down her leg. I called for the first aid kit and applied pressure to the wound to try to stop the bleeding.
“We were supported by NHS midwife Katy Williams who did an amazing job reassuring Emma, who was in and out of consciousness.”
Emma from Bridgend, South Wales, was airlifted first to Lukla Airport and then on to hospital. But she rejoined the group as soon as she recovered and finished the final steps on horseback.
She was raising funds for Kidney Wales, which she chose because her mum Helen had polycystic kidneys and needed an urgent transplant. Emma said: “It was important I continued with the trek as it meant so much to me. My charity means a lot to me as my brother Peter is currently on the transplant list desperately needing a kidney.
Scariest
“I just kept thinking of him and how he would feel if I got to Basecamp. My team tended to my wound very fast and were encouraging at one of the scariest times of my life. The Sherpas have been outstanding, they managed to arrange the helicopter – if it wasn’t for them then I’d have been waiting until the next day as time was getting on. “
Yaks are a type of long-haired cow found in the Himalayan region. They rarely attack humans but can be highly protective and charge if they think they are in danger.