First Indian amputee to conquer Mount Everest

  

First Indian amputee to conquer Mount Everest

     Arunima "Sonu" Sinha (born 1988) is the first Indian amputee to conquer Mount Everest. She was a national volleyball player, who was pushed out of a running train by criminals in 2011 while resisting them and one of her legs had to be amputated below her knees as a result.

     Sinha, a former national level volleyball and football player was pushed out of a general coach of the Padmavati Express train by criminals wanting to snatch her bag and gold chain on April 11, 2011. She had boarded the train at Lucknow for Delhi to take an examination to join the CISF and was accosted by robbers on the train who tried to snatch her 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 was crushed. 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 a compensation of 25000 (US$460) by the Indian Sports ministry. After a national outrage, the Minister of State for Youth Affairs and Sports Ajay Maken announced an additional Rs. 200000 (US$3,700) compensation as medical relief and a recommendation for a job in the CISF. The Indian Railways also offered her a job

     On April 18, 2011 she was brought to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences for further treatment where she spent four months. However, an inquiry by the police into the incident doubted her version of the accident. According to them she was either attempting suicide or met with an accident while crossing the railway tracks. Sinha claimed that the police was agonizing her.

     Sinha reached the Mount Everest at 10.55 am on 21 May 2013, as part of the Tata Group sponsored Eco Everest Expedition. She was trained by Bachendri Pal, the first Indian woman to climb Mount Everest at the Uttarkashi camp of Tata Steel Adventure Foundation (TSAF) 2012. She was inspired by cricketer Yuvraj Singh, who had successfully battled cancer to do something with her life