Russian double amputee summits Mount Everest

Russian double amputee Rustam Nabiev reached the summit of Mount Everest, becoming the first person to scale the world’s highest peak without prosthetic limbs.

“Yes, he successfully climbed Everest. He’s now descending to the base camp,” Khim Lal Gautam, coordinator of the Everest Base Camp field office, told Anadolu.

Nabiev, a former Russian paratrooper, lost both legs in 2015 after a barracks building collapsed while he was sleeping, killing several soldiers.

Following the incident, he climbed Mount Elbrus, the highest peak in Russia and Europe, to demonstrate that double amputees are equally capable of taking part in outdoor and mountaineering activities.

Inspired by that achievement, Nabiev traveled to Nepal in 2021 and successfully climbed Mount Manaslu, at 8,163 meters (26,781 feet) the world’s eighth-highest mountain.

This year, he returned to Nepal with the goal of climbing Everest and successfully reached the summit.

Three years ago, former Gurkha soldier Hari Budha Magar became the first double amputee to climb Everest using prosthetic legs.

Budha Magar later completed climbs of the highest peaks on all seven continents.

A record 270 climbers reached the Everest summit on Wednesday.

More than 490 climbers obtained permits for Everest expeditions during the current spring climbing season, with summit attempts still underway.