Kathmandu: Indian climber Anurag Maloo, who was miraculously rescued after falling into a deep crevasse on Mount Annapurna in Nepal, was revived after three hours of painstaking effort by doctors at a hospital here, his brother has said, describing the mountaineer's health condition as "still critical".
Anurag, 34, a resident of Kishangarh in Rajasthan, went missing on Monday after he fell from around 6,000 meters while descending from Camp III. Mount Annapurna is the 10th highest mountain in the world and is known for its treacherous terrain. Anurag is undergoing treatment at a Kathmandu hospital and has shown signs of improvement, his brother Ashish Maloo said on Sunday.
Ashish, who is in Nepal, said: "When the unconscious body of Anurag reached the hospital, there were no symptoms of heartbeat and breathing was also not noticeable." "It took three hours of efforts by the medical personnel to bring back the heartbeat and breathing, he said.
The doctors performed Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) for three hours to bring back his heart beating, he added. Anurag is undergoing treatment at the ICU of Medicity Hospital located at Bhaisepati of Lalitpur district. "Doctors say that his health is slowly improving, though his condition is still critical. We should be hopeful of his full recovery and we all are praying for his health," Ashish said.
He also expressed gratitude to the Sherpas, the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu, the governments of India and Nepal and the Nepal Army and all others who were directly or indirectly involved in rescuing his brother. Cheepal Sherpa, a senior mountaineer guide who accompanied Anurag during his expedition, said on Sunday that the Indian climber caught the wrong rope which led to his fall into the deep crevasse.
"Instead of catching the rope used for ascending or descending the mountain, he caught the rope used for carrying goods, which is very short and with no joint," Sherpa told reporters here at a press conference on Sunday. He said Anurag was the only person from the expedition organised by Seven Summit Trek who could not make it to the summit on that day.
A total of 12 people, including international climbers and sherpas, reached Mt. Annapurna on that day. Narrating Anurag's misery, Sherpa said that he climbed for some two-three hours from above Camp IV and reached over 7,600 metres without oxygen and because of that he could not make a further ascent.
As he looked very weak and his moves were slow while ascending, I told him to abandon the attempt and take rest, for the time being. In this way, you could not descend safely even if you succeeded to Summit," Sherpa said he told Anurag. On the rescue mission, he said seven Sherpa guides were mobilised to lift Anurag from the deep crevasse located at an altitude of 5,700 metres.
The crevasse was more than 70 metres deep and it was very risky to go inside even for the rescue team, he said. He pointed out that on the first day of the accident, two attempts were carried out to rescue Anurag but they could not succeed because of the lack of necessary equipment and enough manpower.
The next day a helicopter was mobilised to locate the site and on the third day, seven Sherpa guides were mobilised for conducting the rescue work, he said. "They stayed in the snow the whole night. Anurag was found the next morning (April 20) at 7 am. After bringing him to the base camp, he was rushed to Manipal Hospital in Pokhara," Sherpa said.
Anurag is on a mission to climb all 14 peaks above 8,000 metres and the seven highest points in all seven continents to create awareness and drive action towards achieving the UN Global Goals. He has been awarded REX Karam -- Veer Chakra and became the 2041 Antarctic Youth Ambassador from India. (PTI)
