Amputee Arunima scales Everest

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Arunima Sinha

Arunima Sinha, a former national-level volleyball player, on Tuesday became the first Indian amputee to conquer Mount Everest.

According to information reaching here, the 25-year-old Arunima, who had lost one of her legs after being thrown off a moving train, reached the 8,848 metre-high summit of the world’s highest peak at 10.55 am on Tuesday, as a member of the Eco Everest expedition from the Tata Group.
Arunima, a resident of Ambedkar Nagar in Uttar Pradesh, was pushed out of the train for resisting a chain-snatching attempt while travelling from Lucknow to Delhi on April 12, 2011.
She was hit by a passing train and seriously injured. Hospitalised with serious leg and pelvic injuries, doctors had to amputate her left leg below the knee to save her.
In an interview with a TV channel before leaving for her expedition, Arunima recollected how she had decided to get her life back right in the hospital when she was recovering.
“At that time everyone was worried for me. I then realised I had to do something in my life so that people stop looking at me with pity.
“I read about people scaling Mt Everest. I spoke to my elder brother and my coach who only encouraged me,” she had said.
Arunima trained at the Tata Steel Adventure Foundation camp in Uttarkashi last year under the guidance of Bachendri Pal, the first Indian woman to conquer Mt Everest.
Arunima successfully scaled the 6,622-metre-high Mount Chhamser Kangri of Ladakh last year.
On Tuesday, two 21-year-old Indian sisters also scripted history by becoming the first twins ever to conquer the summit of Mount Everest together.
Tashi and Nancy Malik from Dehra Dun achieved this feat along with other record-makers, including the first women from Saudi Arabia and Pakistan to have scaled the peak.