Indian Climber Anurag Maloo Grabbed Wrong Rope, Fell Into Crevasse: Sherpa

Indian climber Anurag Maloo, who was miraculously rescued from Mount Annapurna, caught the wrong rope that led him to fall into a deep crevasse, a senior mountaineer guide who accompanied him during the expedition said on Sunday.

Anurag, 34, a resident of Kishangarh in Rajasthan, went missing on Monday after he fell from around 6,000 meters while descending from Camp III.

Mount Annapurna is the 10th highest mountain in the world and is known for its treacherous terrain.

"Instead of catching the rope used for ascending or descending the mountain he caught the rope used to carry goods, which is very short and with no joint," Cheepal Sherpa told reporters here at a press conference.

He said that Anurag was the only person from the expedition organised by Seven Summit Trek, who could not make it to the summit on that day.

Anurag is currently undergoing treatment at a Kathmandu hospital and has shown signs of improvement, his brother Ashish Maloo said.

During the briefing, said that 12 people, including international climbers and the sherpas, reached Mt. Annapurna on that day.

Narrating Anurag's misery, Sherpa said that he climbed for some two-three hours from above Camp IV and reached over 7,600 metres without oxygen and because of that he could not make a further ascent.

“As he looked very weak and his moves were slow while ascending, I told him to abandon the attempt and take rest, for the time being," he said.

"In this way, you could not descend safely even if you succeeded to Summit," Sherpa had said to Anurag.

On the rescue mission, he said that seven Sherpa guides were mobilised to lift Anurag from the deep crevasse located at an altitude of 5,700 metres.

The crevasse was more than 70 metres deep and it was very risky to go inside for the rescue team also, he said.

He pointed out that on the first day of the accident, two attempts were to conduct rescue Anurag but they could not succeed because they didn't have the necessary equipment and enough manpower.

The next day a helicopter was mobilised to locate the site and on the third day seven Sherpa guides were mobilised for conducting the rescue work, he said.

"They stayed in the snow the whole night. Anurag was found the next morning (April 20) at 7 am. After bringing him to the base camp, he was rushed to Manipal Hospital in Pokhara," he said.

Ashish Maloo, the brother of Anurag, who is currently in Nepal, said: "When Anurag reached the hospital, there were no symptoms of heartbeat and breathing was also not noticeable." "It took three hours of efforts by the medical personnel to bring back the heartbeat and breathing,” he added.

The doctors performed Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) for three hours to bring back his heart beating. Anurag is currently undergoing treatment at the ICU of Medicity Hospital located at Bhaisepati of Lalitpur district.

"Doctors say that his health is slowly improving, though his condition is still critical. We should be hopeful of his full recovery and we all are praying for his health," Ashish said.

Ashish also expressed gratitude to the Sherpas, the Indian Embassy, Kathmandu, the governments of India and Nepal and the Nepal Army and all others who were directly or indirectly involved in rescuing his brother.

Anurag is on a mission to climb all 14 peaks above 8,000 metres and the seven highest points in all seven continents to create awareness and drive action towards achieving the UN Global Goals.

He has been awarded REX Karam -- Veer Chakra and became the 2041 Antarctic Youth Ambassador from India.

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