Everest trek ends in leg break agony
AFORMER Rochdale Observer reporter was airlifted to hospital from the Himalayas after breaking her leg on an Everest trek at 17,000ft.
Ruhubia Akbor, 34, flew out to Nepal last month to help rebuild a school destroyed in the 2015 earthquake with the charity Action Aid.
She was taking part in an Everest Base Camp trek as a personal challenge when she fell on a slope and suffered multiple injuries.
Ruhubia was on the fourth day of the journey, trekking to a village located on a slope, when she tumbled, dislocating her ankle and breaking her leg in two places. A helicopter was called to take Ruhubia to hospital in Kathmandu.
Porters who usually carry the trekkers’ bags carried her in a stretcher for 30 minutes, crossing a suspension bridge, until they reached a clearing where the aircraft could land. She then travelled in the helicopter for an hour to Swacon International Hospital where she underwent surgery.
Plates were placed in the broken parts of her lower leg, while her ankle needed to be snapped back into place.
Action Aid volunteers in the area came to visit her in hospital.
After five days in hospital, Ruhubia was allowed to return home to Oldham and is now receiving further treatment in hospital back home.
Speaking her November 7 ordeal, Ruhubia said: “I remember hearing my leg snap when it happened, I knew it was something serious.
“At first I thought it was my trekking poles. I saw they were intact and knew then it was more serious. I had to be stretchered down by the porters over a suspension bridge to a clearing of where the helicopter landed”, she added.
“I was sat in the stretcher waiting 30 minutes for the helicopter to come. They did the surgery straight away.
“They had to put my ankle back into place and plates in to support the bone that has snapped in half. It’s horrible.
“I’ve had check-ups here and they are happy with the work that was done in Nepal. I can’t put weight on it now for four weeks at least.”
Despite the ordeal, Ruhubia said she would like to return and complete the trek in the future.
“I want to go back, but I don’t know if my family will let me out of their sight again”, she said.
“I have been away for long stretches of time, but this was different. I have never felt so far away.”
Visit actionaid.org.uk/ fundraise/first-handexperiences to find out about volunteering opportunities.