Jamshedpur, April 27: Mountaineers Hemant Gupta and Payo Murmu who were on Camp 2 of Mt Everest when a deadly avalanche struck between the Khumbu Icefall and the base camp at 22,000 ft height of the Himalayas on way to the summit on April 25 when the quack struck in�Nepal on Monday safely returned to the base camp.
The information was given by Bachendri Pal, first woman conqueror of world’s highest summit Mt Everest, after she received phone calls from the two mountaineers.
The two mountaineers had left Jamshedpur in the first week of April to climb the highest peak.
Pal said she had been constantly in touch with the team’s handling agency which had informed her on Saturday night that both the mountaineers were safe and stuck up at Camp II.
“I am happy that both our mountaineers as well as others who were stuck up at Camp II with them, have returned to the base camp,” Pal said.
She said it was not possible to continue the expedition in view of the continued aftershocks of the earthquake in Nepal claiming thousands of lives. Besides, the route to the summit was also partially damaged.
Hemant Gupta and PayoMurmu both Tata Steel employees have been sponsored by the Steel Company for the Everest expedition 2015 as a part of their adventure promotion programme.
Hemant Gupta an IITian from Mumbai who joined Tata Steel as a Management Trainee but opted to work in Tata Steel Adventure Programmes Department since Sept. 2013 as Manager Adventure Programmes.� The other �PayoMurmuis a Loco Traffic Ground Staff in Raw Material Division of Tata Steel.
The duo started their expedition on April 6th from Lukla in Nepal Himalaya.
An estimated 100 climbers and guides were safe but trapped at camps 1 and 2 by Saturday’s 7.9 magnitude earthquake which rendered the treacherous Khumbu icefalls leading up to them from base camp impassable.
The world�s highest mountain is scaled by hundreds every year who brave extreme weather, a hostile terrain and unpredictable avalanches, one of which killed 16 Sherpa guides almost exactly a year ago Mountain rescue teams, helped by clear weather, used helicopters to airlift climbers stranded for two days at high altitude on Mount Everest after a powerful earthquake triggered an avalanche that killed at least 17 people.