Bhubaneswar: Ace Orissa mountaineer Devidutta Panda gave up on his dream to conquer Mount Dhaulagiri (8,167m) in order to rescue his friends suffering from severe frostbite, exertion and hypoxia.
An Indian Air Force (IAF) mountaineering team comprising 12 members divided into two groups embarked on a mission to scale Mt Dhaulagiri in Nepal, April 27. It is the seventh tallest mountain in the world.
The mountaineers reached the base camp after an arduous eight-day trek. They stayed a week there to acclimitise themselves with the conditions. However, the day they were scheduled to make the summit attempt, bad weather forced them to cool their heels for more than a week. It was May 18, when the two groups of six members each could finally begin their climb towards the peak.
Wing Commander Devidutta was leading the second group. Three members of his team successfully reached the peak May 20 and hoisted the Indian flag. However one of the members, Squadron Leader Kevin Nishant suffered severe frostbite on both his hands while a couple of other were affected by exertion and hypoxia as they had been climbing above the summit camp (7,500 metres) for more than 48 hours.
It was then Devidutta who took over. He along with the fit members of the group led Nishant and the two others to a camp which was situated at a height of 7,800 metres. He provided them with oxygen, water, food and medicines to stablise them. “They were so weak that we had to hold their hands and guide them down. They were completely exhausted,” Devidutta informed over the phone Wednesday from New Delhi.
In the process, Devidutta and the fit members had to abandon their plans of reaching the summit. “Our first priority was the life of those injured and exhausted. We brought them down to a height 6,000 metres where there was another camp. They were then airlifted by Indian Air Force helicopters,” stated Devidutta.
The team returned June 3 to New Delhi. Even though Devidutta is sad that he missed out on conquering Mount Dhaulagiri, he is happy that he could help his friends return safely.
“It would have been great to conquer Mt Dhaulagiri. However, at that point of time, the safety of the group members depended on me. I am happy that I could help them,” stated Devidutta.
PNN
