Nima Rinji Sherpa.
| Photo Credit: AP

Cheering crowds hailed an 18-year-old Nepali mountaineer as a hero as he returned home on Monday (October 15, 2024) after breaking the record for the youngest person to summit all 14 of the world’s 8,000-metre peaks.

Nima Rinji Sherpa reached the summit of Tibet’s 8,027-metre-high Shisha Pangma on October 9, completing his mission to stand on the world’s highest peaks.

On Monday, he returned from China to Nepal’s capital Kathmandu, where scores waited to see him.

“I am feeling very happy,” he said, draped in traditional Buddhist scarves and garlands of marigold flowers, as he emerged to loud cheers at the airport.

“Thank you so much everyone”, he said to his supporters, beaming a wide grin. He hugged his family while others rushed to offer him scarves and flowers. Nepal’s climbing community also welcomed several others who returned after completing the summit of 14 peaks.

Summiting all 14 “eight-thousanders” is considered the peak of mountaineering aspirations, with all the peaks located in the Himalayan and Karakoram ranges, straddling Nepal, Pakistan, Tibet, and India.

Climbers cross “death zones” where there is not enough oxygen in the air to sustain human life for long periods.

Many elite climbers have died in the pursuit.

The young Sherpa is no stranger to the mountains, hailing from a family of record-holding climbers, who also now run Nepal’s largest mountaineering expedition company.

He started high-altitude climbing at the age of 16, by climbing Mount Manaslu in August 2022.

New Delhi:

A frightening new video has emerged of the Bombardier CRJ 200 jet that crashed at the Nepal’s Kathmandu airport at 11.15 am (local time). The video captures the final few seconds of the crash.

The clip begins shortly after take-off, with the plane already out-of-control and just a few hundred feet off the ground. Seconds later the plane – a Saurya Airlines service to the tourist hub of Pokhara – which was tilting to the right, jerks to its left and plunges to the ground, exploding in a ball of fire.

There were 19 people – two crew members and 17 staff – of whom 18 have died, authorities said. The lone survivor is the pilot, who has been rushed to a local hospital, a security official at the airport said.

There is no news yet on what caused the crash.

Earlier today an equally shocking video showed the moment the plane hit the ground.

VIDEO | Exact Moment Saurya Airlines Plane Crashed At Kathmandu Airport

The 18-second video, from a CCTV camera at the airport, showed the plane slamming into the runway, skidding along the ground, and bursting into flames.

#BREAKING | Video Shows Exact Moment Plane Crashed At Kathmandu Airport #NepalPlaneCrash#Kathmandu#Nepalpic.twitter.com/saj1eUNN9m

— NDTV (@ndtv) July 24, 2024

Nepal’s aviation sector has boomed recently but the expansion has been marred by poor safety standards, inadequate training, and maintenance issues. As a result, the European Union has banned Nepali carriers from entering its airspace. The Himalayan country’s challenging topography – which sees high-altitude runways surrounded by mountainous terrain – challenge even the most experienced pilots.

The weather in these regions is also notoriously unpredictable, further complicating aviation safety.

READ | Kathmandu Crash: Nepal Home To Some Of World’s Trickiest Runways

In January last year a Yeti Airlines plane crashed while landing in Pokhara, resulting in the death of all 72 on board. That incident was Nepal’s deadliest plane crash since 1992, when a Pakistani jet crashed in Kathmandu, killing all 167 on board. The same year, a Thai Airways flight crashed killing 113.

The Nepal crash has also put the focus on tabletop runways in India and the associated dangers.

Table-top runways are located on top of hills or elevated terrain. This means there is a steep drop on one or more sides, and leaves a very slim margin of error if the plane overshoots the runway.

READ | Nepal Crash Red-Flags Table-Top Runways Risk, India Has 5

Five airports in India have table-top runways – Shimla, Kozhikode, Mangaluru, Lengpui (in Mizoram) and Pakyong (in Sikkim). Of these, those in Kozhikode and Mangaluru have seen big crashes.

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