The family members of Arun Kumar Tiwari, one of the two mountaineers who died while descending from Mount Everest last week, have decided to leave his body on the mountain itself. According to Sudhir Upadhyaya, the Hyderabad-based mountain climber's brother-in-law, the decision was based on faith, the deceased's passion for mountains and the technical complications involved in retrieving the mortal remains.
"After a failed attempt last year, he (Tiwari) became even more determined to summit Everest. It’s where he loved to be, and it’s where we’re leaving him," he was quoted as saying by The Indian Express.
"He is in Lord Shiva's abode. The process of bringing the body... it would have been very badly damaged by the time it reaches us. Such operations there (Everest) are also not known to be successful," Upadhyaya separately told news agency PTI on Wednesday.
Tiwari, who was a senior IT professional, had reached Everest's peak, which is the highest in the world, on May 21. The 53-year-old later died near the Hillary Step, just below the mountain top, during his descent. The exact time of his death remains unclear.
He was being assisted by four Sherpa climbers in the descent, per Nivesh Karki, Director at Nepal-based Pioneer Adventures, which organised the expedition. Tiwari was an accomplished mountaineer, having climbed Mt Elbrus (Russia), Mt Denali (US) and Mt Aconcagua (Argentina), besides multiple other peaks in the past.
Any attempt to bring the body down from Hillary Step would be perilous and highly expensive as the task requires a team of eight to 12 highly skilled Sherpas and large amounts of bottled oxygen, sources told PTI.
Situated at an altitude of around 8,790 meters near the summit, the Hillary Step lies within the infamous "Death Zone," where oxygen levels are critically low. As a result, climbers and rescuers face constant risks of extreme exhaustion, frostbite, and altitude sickness.
Besides Tiwari, Sandeep Are, who was a US-based IT professional and a native of Andhra Pradesh, also lost his life while descending from Mt Everest. According to Shyam, Are's brother-in-law, he scaled the mountain on May 20, but succumbed to health complications during the descent phase of the expedition.
The 46-year-old became unwell while descending the mountain. He was rescued by Sherpa guides from the South Summit and died shortly after arriving at Camp II. According to various news reports, Are died sometime in the intervening hours of May 21 and May 22.
It is believed that Tiwari and Are were exhausted while coming down from the peak and could not be saved despite the best efforts of their guides, per Rishi Bhandari, secretary general of the Expedition Operators Association of Nepal.
Source: ANI