Top mountaineer Malli Mastan Babu now seems missing for five days when he was dropped off at the base camp on the Argentinean side of the Ceros mountains between Argentina and Chile on 24th March. He left the camp and has not been seen since.
He should have returned on the 24th itself, but the weather turned rainy (rains and floods are a common problem in the region) after he left. Search and rescue efforts mounted found other mountaineers but no signs of him. Indian Mountaineering Federation is already in touch with their counterparts, as are government officials. Fund raising efforts are on to extend search and rescue efforts further.
Malli was due to return to India on the 28th.
(based on media reports)
Malli Mastan Babu is a seasoned climber with extensive experience and holds the world record for completing the “Seven summits” (highest mountain summits on each continent) in the fastest time. He also is the first South Asian to do them. Malli Mastan Babu holds several other climbing records in India and is an alumnus of IIT Kharagpur and IIM Calcutta and NIT and an adventurer and motivational speaker.