Search under way around Mount Everest Summit for missing Indian-origin climber

PTI

Singapore, May 24

A search and rescue operation involving several teams is under way around the Mount Everest Summit to trace an Indian-origin Singaporean climber who has been missing since Saturday.

Teams consisting of three Sherpas each have been searching for Shrinivas Sainis Dattatraya (39), according to Prakash Chandra Devkota, the owner of Nepal Guide Treks and Expedition.

Seven Summit Treks, a Nepal-based adventure travel operator, had organised Dattatraya's Everest ascent.

Devkota also shared photographs of the climber reaching the summit last Friday before he went missing, reported The Straits Times on Tuesday.

In the photos, Dattatraya, a senior manager for software engineering at real estate tech firm JLL Technologies, is seen wearing a bright orange winter wear, sunglasses and an oxygen mask. He is surrounded by colourful prayer flags marking the 8,849 m summit.

He is clutching a rope with his right hand, and stands upright on the peak.

In another picture, the climber lies on his back and is surrounded by three others in similar mountain climbing wear. One of them snaps a shot of him with a smartphone.

He last sent a text message to his wife Sushma Soma, 36, on Friday, saying he had reached Everest's summit. He told her he had high-altitude cerebral oedema -- a severe high altitude illness that could prove fatal -- and was not likely to make it back down, according to the Singapore broadsheet report.

Soma, a musician, learnt at 2 am on Saturday that the two Sherpas he was with, and another climber in the group, made it down from the mountain, but her husband never did.

Devkota said one of the Sherpas, Dendi, had tried to save Dattatraya, but he did not give more details. He added that Dendi had suffered frostbite to his fingers and was hospitalised. 

Join Whatsapp Channel of The Tribune for latest updates.