Bengal woman mountaineer, two sherpas missing on Kanchenjunga

Zee Media Bureau

Kolkata: Renowned mountaineer Chhanda Gayen and two of her accompanying sherpas have gone missing while on an expedition in the Himalayas on Tuesday. Hailing from West Bengal, Gayen, 34, is the first female civilian from the state to conquer Mount Everest. She was attempting to scale the 8,505-metre-high Kanchenjunga West, known as Yalung Kang in Nepal. They are believed to be caught in an avalanche. On May 18, she along with three other climbers from Kolkata – Tusi Das, Dipankar Ghosh and Rajib Bhattacharjee, annexed the 8,585-metre high Kanchenjunga Main. According to reports, Tusi, Rajiv and Dipankar returned to the base camp after the summit while Gayen along with two sherpas, Dawa Wangchu and Mingma Temba, stayed back to scale the nearby Yalung Kang. With Agency inputs