Mountaineer dies while descending Mount Dhaulagiri

Mountaineer Rajib Bhattacharya died due to the lack of oxygen while he was climbing down the world’s seventh highest peak Mount Dhaulagiri on Thursday. The 43-year-old Bhattacharya was a resident of Baranagar in North 24-Parganas. 

His family came to know about the matter on Thursday night. One of his family members said they came to know from other members of the team that a snag had developed in the oxygen cylinder which Bhattacharya was carrying and he had collapsed as there was no sufficient supply of oxygen after struggling a lot at the height of around 8,000 metre. Subsequently, there was a heavy snowfall and he died due to frostbite. 

His family members spoke to other mountaineers and questions have been raised on the role of Tasi Sherpa. The reason being Tasi had managed to climb down and the situation was quite similar when another Bengali mountaineer Chanda Gayen had gone missing. 

Bhattacharya had been in practice of climbing mountains when he was 23-year-old. His family members were shocked when they came to know that he had died while climbing down the peak. A pall of gloom descended in the area with the death of Bhattacharya. 

One of his family members said that he had set out to conquer Mount Dhaulagiri in the end of April after he had successfully conquered Mount Everest and Mount Kanchenjangha in the past.