'Amazing': Hari Budha Magar, double-amputee and ex-soldier after conquering Mt Everest

Updated : May 22, 2023 19:43
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Editorji News Desk

A double amputee Gurkha soldier veteran has reached the top of Mount Everest, the world's tallest mountain.

Hari Budha Magar, who lost both his legs in Afghanistan, reached the mountain's top on Friday, assisted by a team of Nepalese climbers, led by a former Gurkha and SAS mountain troop leader.

The team faced several challenges, including poor weather and nearly running out of oxygen.

Magar started his history-making climb on April 17, 13 years to the day since he lost his legs in after an IED exploded.

After the incident, the stigma of disability and Nepalese society's attitudes toward his condition pushed him into depression.

He battled alcoholism and attempted to take his own life.

But in 2018 he started planning to climb Mount Everest and helped campaign against a ban barring double amputees and blind people from attempting to summit the mountain.

From base camp in Nepal he told Sky News he hoped his feat would "keep continuously making awareness of disability and changing the perception on persons with a disability."

He added he hoped to also "promote peace because I escaped war in Nepal and went to fight another war and war doesn't do good to anyone else."

 

Mount Everest

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