Indian-origin Singaporean man missing after reaching Mount Everest summit

PTI, May 21, 2023, 9:43 AM IST

An Indian-origin Singaporean climber has gone missing after reaching the summit of Mount Everest, his family has said and called for urgent attention to his situation.

According to a petition on the website change.org, Shrinivas Sainis Dattatraya set out from Singapore to Nepal last month to climb the world’s highest peak.

His cousin Divya Bharath wrote in the petition that on the way down, Shrinivas seemed to have suffered frostbite and altitude sickness. This probably might have resulted in Dattatraya getting separated from the rest of his group, and “fell at around 8,000 metres, likely onto the Tibetan side of the mountain”.

A Singaporean news channel on Saturday cited Bharat as saying that a team of sherpas began search operations for Dattatraya on Saturday morning. He was reportedly last in contact with base camp officials at around 8,500 metres.

In the petition, Bharath wrote that the family has reached out to the governments concerned.

“This matter needs to be brought to their attention on an urgent basis. We need a special rescue team that is trained to operate in such risky terrain as well as to ensure that this whole rescue operation is not hindered by diplomatic paperwork,” Channel News Asia quoted Bharath as saying.

She added that Shrinivas’ family was devastated but did not want to lose hope.

Shrinivas, 39, who is an executive director at real estate firm Jones Lang LaSalle, left for Mount Everest on April 1. He was due to return home on June 4.

According to a report by The Straits Times, Dattatraya last sent a text message to his wife on Friday saying that he has reached the summit of Everest but was not likely to make it back down.

His wife Sushma Soma said that she last heard from him at 3.30 pm on Friday.

“Through his satellite phone, he told me that he had made it to the summit. But then followed with bad news. He said that he would not be able to make it down,” The Straits Times quoted Soma as saying.

She added that Shrinivas had told her he was down with high-altitude cerebral edema, a severe type of high-altitude illness that could prove fatal.

Soma learnt at 2 am on Saturday that the two Sherpas her husband was with and another person in the group made it down from the mountain but Shrinivas never did.

According to Channel News Asia, the Singapore High Commission in New Delhi has been in close contact with Shrinivas’ family, local authorities in Nepal and emergency medical services since Friday evening.

Singapore Ministry of Foreign Affairs will continue to monitor developments and render the necessary consular support to the family during this difficult time, the channel cited the ministry as saying.