Mountaineer Piyali Basak who went missing after scaling 5th highest mountain in the world rescued

KOLKATA: Mountaineer Piyali Basak from Chandannagar, Hooghly who went missing for more than 24 hours soon after successfully scaling Makalu (8481m), the fifth-highest mountain in the world has been finally rescued by a three-member Sherpa team.

After intense efforts, the Sherpa team reached the climber at an approximate elevation of 7,800m and assisted her back to Camp III, till the last report came in. According to reports, she was awake and was talking.

According to sources, soon after the summit Piyali was extremely exhausted and was unable to descend downwards.

“Our joy knew no bounds when the news of Piyali’s successful summit reached us on Wednesday morning. However, a few hours after that we received the news that she went missing. Finally at 3.30 pm today (Thursday), we learned from the agency under whose banner Piyali did the expedition that she is safe,” said Piyali’s sister Tamali Basak.

Pioneer Adventures, the agency, informed in a Facebook post that Piyali will be airlifted by helicopter on Friday from Camp III to Kathmandu.

Piyali, barely a month back, had scaled Annapurna (8091m) on April 17.

The 35-year-old had left her residence on March 9 intending to summit both Makalu and Mt. Annapurna one after another.

However, after her successful Annapurna venture, Piyali had to return home on April 24 as her father Tapan Basak fell ill. She again left on April 27, and reached Makalu base camp in the first week of May. The news of her successful climb reached her family members on Wednesday morning.

Piyali made history in May last year by becoming the first Indian woman to have climbed Mount Everest without supplemental oxygen.

In 2021, she scripted history by scaling the dangerous peak of Dhaulagiri (8167 m) without supplemental oxygen, becoming the first Indian woman to do so.

She happens to be the youngest mountaineer in the world and the first from India to climb both the Seven Summits as well as Seven Volcanic Summits. Piyali who is a teacher at Kanailal Primary School has scaled several peaks earlier which includes Mt.