by Press Trust of IndiaA 59-year-old Indian mountaineer, who was aiming to set a new world record by becoming the first woman from Asia on a pacemaker to scale Mount Everest, died on Thursday after falling ill at the base camp of the world’s highest peak in Nepal.
Suzanne Leopoldina Jesus was admitted to a hospital in Lukla town of Solukhumbu district after she suffered difficulties during acclimatization exercises at the Mount Everest base camp and died on Thursday, said Yuvraj Khatiwada, director of Nepal’s tourism department. .
Khatiwada said Sussanne, who is fitted with a pacemaker, was asked to abandon her attempt to climb Mount Everest after she failed to maintain a normal pace during acclimatization exercises at the base camp and showed difficulty in climbing.
Suzanne adamantly refused the advice, saying that she had to climb the peak at 8,848.86 meters high because she had already paid a fee to obtain permission to climb the mountain.
Read this also | Indian mountaineer Baljit Kaur found alive a day after she went missing from Mount Annapurna in Nepal
Dendi Sherpa, president of Glacier Himalayan Trek, the organizer of the expedition, said Suzanne, who climbed 5,800 meters a little above Mount Everest base camp, was forcibly taken to Lukla town on Wednesday evening and admitted to a hospital for treatment. ,
“We had to forcibly take him back to Lukla,” the Sherpa said. They said they hired a helicopter to evacuate him.
“We asked her to give up climbing five days ago, but she was determined to climb Everest,” he said.
The Sherpa also wrote a letter to the Department of Tourism stating that Suzanne was in no position to climb Mount Everest as it took her more than 5 hours to reach Crompton Point, above Base Camp, which is only 250 meters is long.
The Sherpa said climbers can usually cover the distance in 15 to 20 minutes, but it took Suzanne five hours on the first attempt, six hours on the second and 12 hours on the third.
Read this also | Mount Everest is conserving germs sneezed on by climbers. they are sleeping now
“However, she wanted to set a new world record by becoming the first Asian woman to climb Everest with a pacemaker,” he said, adding that she had difficulty swallowing and could not eat easily.
Sherpa said Suzanne’s body was brought to Kathmandu on Thursday afternoon and taken to Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital in Maharajganj municipality for postmortem.
His family members were informed and they were expected to reach Kathmandu by Friday evening.
A Chinese climber also died while climbing Mount Everest on Thursday morning, taking the death toll on Everest to eight this season.
Earlier, four Sherpa climbers, an American doctor and a Moldovan climber had died on Everest.