Bengal man dies while descending from Mt Everest summit: ‘Refused to move'
Subrata Ghosh, a 45-year-old mountaineer and teacher from Ranaghat in Nadia district in West Bengal, died on Thursday while descending from Mount Everest, the highest peak in the Himalayas, hours after successfully reaching the summit.
Ghosh and another climber Rumpa Das, also from Bengal, began their Everest ascent from the Nepal base camp on Wednesday. However, due to the harsh and deteriorating weather, they had to postpone their summit attempt to Thursday afternoon. Despite facing oxygen shortage and harsh weather conditions during their descent, Rumpa Das managed to reach Camp 4, but Ghosh did not, said sources.
After being missing for around 17 hours, Ghosh's frozen body was found on Hillary Step on Friday morning.
Bodhraj Bhandari, managing director at Snowy Horizon Treks, the company organising the expedition, confirmed the death and said that after being missing for around 17 hours, Ghosh's frozen body was found at the Hillary Step, near the Everest Summit Point, on Friday morning.
'Ghosh reached the summit around 2 pm (Thursday) but began to show signs of exhaustion and altitude sickness during the descent,' Bhandari said in a statement.
According to sources, his Sherpa guide, Champal Tamang, tried to encourage him to descend, but was unsuccessful. Tamang returned alone to Camp 4 on Thursday late evening and reported the incident on Friday morning.
'Ghosh refused to move while descending from the summit,' Bhandari quoted Tamang as saying. Efforts are being made to recover Ghosh's body and bring it back to the base camp.
The exact cause of death will be determined following a post-mortem examination.
Meanwhile, Rumpa Das is on oxygen support in Camp 4.
According to sources, Ghosh's sister was also part of the expedition, but she stayed in the base camp and did not go to the summit due to adverse weather conditions.
Ghosh was working at Bagda Kapasati Milanbithi High School and was also a member of the Lions Club of Ranaghat West.
'He was a skilled climber and went for several expeditions before this. When I got the message, I did not believe it… Then I called the head of the agency, who confirmed the news. I still can't believe Subrata is no more,' said Ghosh's relative Pratap Saha. He added, 'Subrata loved mountaineering from his childhood days. He took proper training and reached several summits in the past.'
Atri Mitra is a Special Correspondent of The Indian Express with more than 20 years of experience in reporting from West Bengal, Bihar and the North-East. He has been covering administration and political news for more than ten years and has a keen interest in political development in West Bengal.
Atri holds a Master degree in Economics from Rabindrabharati University and Bachelor's degree from Calcutta University. He is also an alumnus of St. Xavier's, Kolkata and Ramakrishna Mission Asrama, Narendrapur.
He started his career with leading vernacular daily the Anandabazar Patrika, and worked there for more than fifteen years. He worked as Bihar correspondent for more than three years for Anandabazar Patrika. He covered the 2009 Lok Sabha election and 2010 assembly elections. He also worked with News18-Bangla and covered the Bihar Lok Sabha election in 2019. ... Read More
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