Kolkata: Basanta Singha Roy and Debabrata
Biswas, two members of the first civilian expedition from West
Bengal by `Mountaineers Association of Krishnanagar`, reached
the top of Mount Everest this morning.
According to a message received from the expedition
base camp at Solo Khumbu in Nepal, team leader Basanta Singha
Roy and another member Debabrata Biswas reached the top of the
world`s highest mountain at 7:40 am.
The message said the two had set out from the summit
camp at South Col above 26,000 feet at around 10:00 pm last
night and reached the top after a gruelling climb of about ten
hours.
The expedition organised by MAK which left for the
mountain on April 4 had initially planned to climb through the
Rongbook glacier, North Col and North East ridge route in
Tibet, but were disallowed by the Chinese government.
The expedition members then decided to climb from the
traditional Khumbu Glacier, South Col, Southeast ridge route
in Nepal.
The expedition members set up their base camp at Solo
Khumbu at 16,000 feet on April 14. They set out from the base
camp for the final push on May 13.
Other members of the team were Asok Roy, Sourav
Sinchan Mondal and Bivas Sarkar.
West Bengal Sports Minister Kanti Ganguly
congratulated the team. He said a civic reception would be
accorded to them.
Leader of the first successful Indian Everest
Expedition in 1965 Capt. M S Kohli also congratulated the
expedition leader and its members for their success.
In a message Capt. Kohli said "It`s wonderful. My
congratulations to all of them."
Two Bengali climbers Commander Satyabrata Dam from the
navy and Captain Shipra Mazumdar from the army had climbed
Everest a few years ago.
PTI
