First Indian amputee conquers Mt Everest

New Delhi, May 22: Arunima Sinha, a former national level volleyball player who had lost one of her legs after being thrown off a moving train, has created history by becoming the first Indian amputee to scale Mount Everest.

25-year-old Sinha 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, an official of the Tourism Ministry of Nepal said.

Sinha, a resident of Ambedkar Nagar in Uttar Pradesh, was pushed out of the general compartment of Padmawati Express for resisting a chain-snatching attempt by some criminals, while travelling from Lucknow to Delhi on 12th April, 2011.

She was hit by a passing train and was seriously injured. She was hospitalised with serious leg and pelvic injuries and in a bid to save her life, doctors had to amputate her left leg below the knee.

In an interview to an Indian TV channel before leaving for her expedition, Sinha 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 the Mt Everest. I spoke to my older brother and my coach who only encouraged me," she said.

Overcoming the scars of the accident and defying all odds, Arunima started training at the Tata Steel Adventure Foundation (TSAF) 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, but her ultimate goal was to climb Mount Everest.

On Tuesday, two 21-year-old Indian sisters scripted history by becoming the first twins ever to conquer the summit of Mount Everest together.

Tashi and Nancy Malik from Dehradun achieved this feat along with other record-makers, including the first women from Saudi Arabia and Pakistan to have climbed the peak.