Headlines
Missing Indian mountaineer found dead
Hyderabad, April 4
Indian mountaineer Malli
Mastan Babu, who was missing since March 24 while climbing the mountain
between Chile and Argentina, has been found dead, his friends said on
Saturday.
"Mountains retained its favourite child.. R.I.P Malli
Mastan Babu," read an announcement on Facebook page 'Rescue Malli Mastan
Babu' created by his friends and well-wishers.
The body of mountaineer, who hailed from Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh, was reportedly spotted on mountains in Chile.
The
40-year-old mountaineer left home for the trip on December 16 and began
the expedition from Argentina side on March 24. He was scheduled to
return to the base camp the next day but was apparently trapped in bad
weather.
All efforts by the family, friends and fellow mountaineers to contact him proved futile.
Malli's
elder brother Malli Pedda Mastanaiah told IANS that the family has not
received any information from either the central government or the state
government. "We have learnt through his friends that he is no more,"
said Mastanaiah, who is a teacher at a school in Khammam district of
Telangana.
Mastanaiah, who was on his way to the home town, said
they were waiting to hear from the government about when the body will
be brought back.
The Indian government said on Friday that
helicopter teams from Argentina and Chile were searching the Andes
mountains for Malli.
A Facebook page 'Rescue Malli Mastan Babu'
launched by his supporters and well wishers had this single post on
Saturday : "Mountains retained its favourite child.. R.I.P Malli Mastan
Babu."
The Facebook page 'Rescue Malli Mastan Babu' was being
updated regularly with news on the latest status of the search operation
in the Andes.
On Saturday, ministry of external affairs
spokesperson Akbaruddin tweeted: "RIP #MalliMastanBabu. With his friends
& family we are working with authorities in Argentina & Chile
on next steps in a difficult situation."
The post about his death has already got his admirers writing messages of tribute.
One
post said: "Mastan embraced South America as his own in his last four
years. He learned Spanish to be able to move in South American countries
and he really enjoyed the Andes and its vast set of challenges. Mastan
has been the amazing unofficial brand ambassador for the South American
adventure destinations especially the Andes."
The top mountaineer
had achieved the feat of becoming the "fastest seven summiteer" in the
world (172 days in 2006, during which he climbed seven summits on seven
days of the week in each calendar month).
He was also the first
Indian to summit Mt Vinson Massif, the tallest peak in Antarctica and
the first person from Andhra Pradesh to scale the Everest. He was an
alumnus