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An Indian-origin Singaporean climber has gone missing after reaching the summit of Mount Everest, his family has said, and called for urgent attention to his situation.
According to a petition on the website change.org, Shrinivas Sainis Dattatraya set out from Singapore to Nepal last month to climb the world’s highest peak.
His cousin Divya Bharath wrote in the petition that on the way down, Shrinivas seemed to have suffered frostbite and altitude sickness. This probably might have resulted in his getting separated from the rest of his group, and “fell at around 8,000 metre, likely onto the Tibetan side of the mountain”.
A Singaporean news channel on Saturday cited Ms. Bharat as saying that a team of sherpas began search operations for Shrinivas on Saturday morning. He was reportedly last in contact with base camp officials at around 8,500 metre.
In the petition, Ms. Bharath wrote that the family had reached out to the governments concerned.
“This matter needs to be brought to their attention on an urgent basis. We need a special rescue team that is trained to operate in such risky terrain as well as to ensure that this whole rescue operation is not hindered by diplomatic paperwork,” Channel News Asia quoted Ms. Bharath as saying.
She added that Shrivinas’ family was devastated but did not want to lose hope.
Last message
Shrinivas, 39, who is an executive director at real estate firm Jones Lang LaSalle, left for Mount Everest on April 1. He was due to return home on June 4.
According to a report by The Straits Times, Shrinivas last sent a text message to his wife on Friday saying that he had reached the summit of Everest but was not likely to make it back down.
His wife Sushma Soma said that she last heard from him at 3.30 p.m. on Friday.
“Through his satellite phone, he told me that he had made it to the summit. But then followed with bad news. He said that he would not be able to make it down,” The Straits Times quoted Ms. Soma as saying.
She added that Shrinivas had told her he was down with high-altitude cerebral edema, a severe type of high-altitude illness, that could prove fatal.
Ms. Soma learnt at 2 a.m. on Saturday that the two Sherpas her husband was with and another person in the group, had made it down from the mountain but Shrinivas never did.
Consular support
According to Channel News Asia, the Singapore High Commission in New Delhi has been in close contact with Shrinivas’ family, the local authorities in Nepal and the emergency medical services since Friday evening.
The Singapore Ministry of Foreign Affairs will continue to monitor developments and render necessary consular support to the family during this difficult time, the channel cited the Ministry as saying.
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