Bringing Sajal Khaled back

Mountaineers have started for the south summit from the base camp to bring down the body of Bangladeshi climber Sajal Khaled who died descending Mt Everest after scaling the world’s highest peak.

First Secretary of Bangladesh High Commission in Nepal Khan Md Moinul Hossen told bdnews24.com on Saturday the government will bear all expenses for bringing down Sajal Khaled's body and taking it home to his family for last rites.

He said a tripartite agreement was signed on Friday between Nepal’s tourism ministry, the Bangladesh Embassy and the Seven Summit Tracking Limited to bring down Khaled’s body and belongings from the mountain.

A team of Sherpas hired by the Seven Summit Tracking Ltd has started for the south summit in the early hours of Saturday, Islam said.

The 35-year old mountaineer died while coming down from the Everest.

His dead body is lying on the South Summit, some 28,750 feet above sea level.

He was the fifth Bangladeshi to stand on the summit of world’s highest mountain.

According to the agreement, the Seventh Summit will send video footage of the recovery mission and brief the Bangladesh mission in Kathmandu of their progress every half an hour.

It will use satellite technology to locate the body.

Embassy officials said Khaled’s body will be flown to Kathmandu after it is brought to Base Camp-2.

Bangla Mountaineering and Trekking Club (BMTC) member Reaz Rahman said it might take up to five days to recover the body depending on the weather.

The government is financing the recovery mission to bring his body back to the family. It will cost around Tk 4.5 million.

A member of BMTC, Khaled started for Nepal on Apr 11. Before him, the club’s members, MA Muhith and Nishat Mazumder, had scaled the Everest.

Before leaving, the film director-mountaineer had told bdnews24.com that it was his 15th expedition and second attempt to climb the Everest.

He had managed to reach around 24,000 feet but was forced to descend due to rough weather in his last attempt.

Both he and his fellow South Korean climber Sung Ho-Seo, 34, died in the area known as the ‘death zone’ during the descent.

Five other climbers have lost their lives this season while attempting to conquer the Everest.

Around 300 people have lost their lives in the past six decades, many of whose bodies remain on the mountain.

That includes British climbers Andrew Irvine and George Mallory who, many feel, were the first to climb the Mt Everest way back in 1924 but that could never be confirmed as both died.

Mallory's body was recovered in 1999 but no conclusive evidence could be garnered about whether he and Irvine had indeed climbed Mt Everest.

An engineer by training, Khaled hails from Munshiganj’s Srinagar and was the youngest of six siblings.

He climbed the Mera Peak and Chulu West during his mountaineering career.

He had translated a book on mountaineering by Edmund Viesturs in Bangla.

Sajal had been popular with the public after directing a children’s movie ‘Kajoler Dinratri’.