Our worst nightmares have come true: Kin of mountaineer missing in Nepal

Hearing the news, Anurag’s younger brother Aashish, 29, left Kishangarh Monday night, reached New Delhi, and took a flight to Kathmandu Tuesday morning.

Launching an online petition directed at India’s Ambassador to Naveen Srivastava, Aashish said, “My brother Anurag is the most passionate climber that I know. Since I can remember, climbing mountains has been a dream of his. Each time he set out to climb, he would make sure he had the Indian flag by his side, ready to be hoisted across the world’s highest peaks. His passion took him on a mission to climb all 14 peaks above 8,000 m and 7 summits to create awareness and drive action towards achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals.”

“Last week, he had set out to climb Mount Annapurna, the 10th highest mountain in the world … in an unfortunate turn of events, he fell down from around 6,000 m while descending from Camp III on 17th April, and since then has been missing. We are devastated. It feels like our worst nightmares have come true, but we cannot lose hope,” reads Aashish’s petition.

When contacted, Ambassador Naveen Srivastava refused to speak on the rescue efforts.

In a letter to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Aashish said that “despite overnight individual efforts to mobilise requisite help to rescue him, no visible progress could be made”, and called for additional measures to ensure his return.

The family hopes that Anurag makes a miraculous return like Baljeet Kaur, who scaled the summit Monday but fell ill on her way down. She reportedly spent the night on the mountain before being rescued.

In a social media post, Pioneer Adventure, a Nepal-based mountaineering and expedition agency, said, “We are thrilled to report that after being air-lifted from the mountain, Baljeet Kaur has safely arrived at Annapurna Base Camp and will soon be flown back to Kathmandu for medical examination.”

Quoting expedition organisers, The Himalayan Times said that “at least five climbers were evacuated from the high camps of Mt Annapurna after they complained of mountain illness”.

It said that apart from Kaur, Pakistani climbers Shehroze Kashif, Naila Kiani and Indian climber Arjun Vajpai were evacuated from Camp IV after they fell ill while descending from the summit point, while Nepal Army Captain Suman Panday, who suffered from snow blindness at Camp III, has also been evacuated to Kathmandu.

Noted Irish climber Noel Hanna, 56, who has scaled Mount Everest 10 times, died on his way down from the summit.

In Ajmer, Om Prakash and Pushpa, too, hope Anurag manages to make it, even as every passing hour gets more difficult to bear. “We don’t have any information. Search efforts for the day would’ve stopped since it is almost dark,” Om Prakash said. “They have deployed helicopters and sherpas. We are hoping that a thermal camera is also deployed via drones, so that they can trace him.”

Anurag last spoke to his family about 10 days ago, when he was going to begin his trek. “He had said that he will be out of coverage area and that he will call us back once he finds network again,” said the father.

Anurag studied in Ajmer and Kota before pursuing BTech from Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University.

According to his social media profiles, he has been associated with various NGOs and organisations over the years, including Teach for India, Asian Youth Forum, Peace Revolution, Youth for Equality and Indian Youth Climate Network.

Professionally, he is currently Head of Partnerships (Asia) with Seedstars, which said that it is “working closely with his friends and family and International SOS to coordinate search and rescue operations”.