AN INDIAN CLIMBER who fell into a 300-metre deep crevasse on Mount Annapurna on the same day Northern Irish mountaineer Noel Hanna died on the mountain has been rescued, an expedition organiser in Nepal’s capital has said.
Several rescue attempts were made after Anurag Maloo fell on the world’s 10th highest mountain on Monday.
When he was finally rescued, he was flown to a hospital in the resort town of Pokhara, Thaneswar Guragai of Kathmandu-based Seven Summit Treks said.
He was being treated at the hospital, but his condition was still unknown.
Annapurna is situated in the Annapurna mountain range of Gandaki Province in north-central Nepal. It is considered one of the most challenging mountains to climb due to its steep and exposed routes and the frequent risk of avalanches and landslides.
Noel Hanna died on Monday night in Camp III after descending from the mountain.
A prominent mountaineer from Co Down, Hanna was a renowned climber and had scaled Mount Everest 10 times. In 2018, he became the first Irish person to successfully summit and descend K2.
In 2006, he climbed the world’s highest peak and then cycled from the route’s base camp to the sea in eastern India, reaching the Bay of Bengal after a marathon two-week bike ride.
Also on Monday, another Indian climber, Baljeet Kaur, became ill but miraculously survived even after spending the night in harsh conditions and without the aid of supplement bottled oxygen.
The spring Himalayan climbing season had a tragic start last week with the death of three Nepali climbers on Everest.
The trio were crossing the treacherous Khumbu icefall as part of a supply mission when a block of glacial ice fell and swept them into a deep crevasse.
Nepal is home to eight of the world’s 10 highest peaks and welcomes hundreds of adventurers each spring climbing season, when temperatures are warm and winds are typically calm.
The government has issued more than 700 climbing permits for various Himalayan mountains this season, including 319 for Everest.
Includes reporting by Jane Moore, Press Association and © AFP 2023.
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