First Indian amputee scales Mount Everest

Kathmandu, May 21: Arunima Sinha, a former national level volleyball player, who had lost her right leg after thrown off a moving train by some hoodlums, created history on Tuesday by becoming the first Indian amputee to conquer Mount Everest.

25-year-old Sinha reached the summit of the highest peak in the world at 10.55 am today, as a member of the Eco Everest Expedition from the Tata Group, an official of the Tourism Ministry of Nepal said.

Sinha, a resident of Ambedkar Nagar in Uttar Pradesh, was pushed out of the general compartment of Padmawati Express for resisting a chain-snatching attempt by some criminals, while travelling from Lucknow to Delhi on April 12, 2011.

She was hit by a passing train and was seriously injured. She was hospitalised with serious leg and pelvic injuries and in a bid to save her life, doctors had to amputate her left leg below the knee.

In an interview to an Indian TV channel before leaving for her expedition, Sinha recollected how she had decided to get her life back right in the hospital when she was recovering.

"At that time everyone was worried for me. I then realised I had to do something in my life so that people stop looking at me with pity. I read about people scaling the Mt Everest. I spoke to my older brother and my coach who only encouraged me," she had told a news channel.

Arunima joined the Tata Steel Adventure Foundation (TSAF) camp in Uttarkashi last year, where she trained by Bachendri Pal, the first Indian woman to conquer Mt Everest.

PTI