Dear Friends, With the kind permission of Mr Harish Kotian, I post the following details on this forum:
Arunima "Sonu" Sinha (born 1988) is the first female amputee to climb Mount Everest. She is also the first Indian amputee to climb Mount Everest. She was a national level volleyball player who was pushed out of a running train by thieves in 2011 while resisting them. One of her legs had to be amputated below the knee as a result. Early life and career [ Sinha is from Ambedkar Nagar in Uttar Pradesh,India. She had qualified as a Head Constable in the CISF in 2012. She married Robin Chitravanshi in November 2010, but filed for divorce 20 days later. Train accident Sinha, a former national volleyball and football player, boarded the Padmavati Express train at Lucknow for Delhi on 11 April 2011, to take an examination to join the CISF. She was pushed out of a general coach of the train by thieves wanting to snatch her bag and gold chain. Recounting the incident, she said, "I resisted and they pushed me out of the train. I could not move. I remember seeing a train coming towards me. I tried getting up. By then, the train had run over my leg. I don't remember anything after that." Immediately, as she fell on the railway track, another train on a parallel track crushed her leg below the knee. She was rushed to the hospital with serious leg and pelvic injuries, and lost her leg after doctors amputated it to save her life. She was offered compensation of INR25000 (US$460) by the Indian Sports Ministry. Following national outrage, the Minister of State for Youth Affairs and Sports Ajay Maken announced an additional Rs. INR 200000 (US$3,700) compensation as medical relief, together with a recommendation for a job in the CISF. Indian Railways also offered her a job. On 18 April 2011, she was brought to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences for further treatment, spending four months at the Institute. She was provided a prosthetic leg free of cost by a private Delhi-based Indian company. An inquiry by the police into the incident threw her version of the accident into doubt. According to the police, she was either attempting suicide or met with an accident while crossing the railway tracks. Sinha claimed that the police were lying. Mount Everest ascent [ Planning and training [ While still being treated in the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, she resolved to climb Mount Everest. She was inspired by cricketer Yuvraj Singh, who had successfully battled cancer, "to do something" with her life. She excelled in the basic mountaineering course from the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering, Uttarkashi, and was encouraged by her elder brother Omprakash to climb Everest with a prosthetic leg. She contacted Bachendri Pal, the first Indian woman to climb Mount Everest, in 2011 by telephone and signed up for training under her at the Uttarkashi camp of the Tata Steel Adventure Foundation (TSAF) 2012. Sinha climbed Island Peak (6150 metres) in 2012 as preparation for her ascent of Everest The climb [ On 1 April 2013, Sinha and Susen Mahto, a TSAF instructor, who had together climbed Mount Chhamser Kangri (6622 metres) in 2012 under the guidance of Bachendri Pal started their ascent of Mount Everest. After a hard toil of 17 hours, Sinha reached the summit of Mount Everest at 10:55 am on 21 May 2013, as part of the Tata Group-sponsored Eco Everest Expedition, becoming the first female amputee to scale Everest. She took 52 days to reach the summit. Aftermath [ She was congratulated by the Indian Sports Minister Jitendra Singh on her achievement. "An Indian woman who lost her leg after she was thrown from a moving train two years ago has become the first female amputee to climb Everest expedition." organisers said on Wednesday. Arunima Sinha, 26, from the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, reached the peak on Tuesday morning after a slow climb from Everest Base Camp. "She left high camp at 6pm on Monday evening and arrived at the summit at 10:55 am (0510 GMT) on Tuesday," Ang Tshering Sherpa, founder of Asian Trekking, the company that organised the expedition, told AFP. Sinha's guides were concerned about her slow pace until the team reached an 8,750-metre (28,707 foot) junction that climbers pass through on their way to the top of the mountain, Sherpa said. "But once she got to that point, she gained energy and confidence and started moving really quickly," Sherpa said. Two years ago, the former national-level volleyball player was shoved from a moving train by thieves when she reportedly attempted to fight them off as they tried to stealing her purse. A passing train crushed her left leg, forcing doctors to amputate below the knee to save her life. 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