Two Indian mountain climbers have died during their trek of Mount Kanchenjunga in Nepal and a search operation is currently underway to retrieve the bodies. The news was announced on Thursday by the duo's hiking company, Peak Promotion.
Biplab Baidhya, 48, and Kuntal Kanrar, 46, who hailed from Kolkata, were near the summit of one of the tallest peaks in the world. It was reported that they died overnight at an altitude of 8,000 metres or 26,246 feet. When they fell ill, a rescue attempt was made by a helicopter to bring them to the base camp but in vain.
Peak Promotion said that Baidya died of altitude sickness while Kanrar passed away while trying to scale the peak.
The two men had scaled the peak during the spring season, which is the most popular time of the year for mountain climbing. The climbing season will soon come to a close for this year. The season begins in March and ends in May.
Many have tried to scale Kanchenjunga, the third highest peak in the world, but only a few have been successful. Kanchenjunga has always been a source of attraction for foreigner and Indians alike.
In 2018, Arjun Vajpai, a 16-year-old boy from Noida, had scaled the peak and became the world's youngest mountaineer to scale six peaks, including the Mount Everest (the tallest peak in the world).
Recalling his climb up Kanchenjunga, Arjun had told Times of India, "It was just up, up and up. There was no place to rest, kneel down or even drink water for 12 hours." To make matters worse, they'd run out of equipment for the final ridge, which had a sheer 1,000 m drop, so 20-30 people were hanging from a single rope about twice the diameter of a USB cable. "If one of them fell, I knew the rope would not hold."
