Former Gurkha carried out high-altitude rescue during Everest descent

A former Gurkha carried out a high-altitude rescue after discovering a struggling climber near the South Summit of Mount Everest in Nepal.

Nirmal 'Nims' Purja MBE, who in 2019 set a record when he climbed the world's 14 highest mountains on Earth, shared the story of how his team were involved in rescuing the climber from another guiding company.

He posted an image of himself with the rescued climber, a Nepalese army captain named Dipendra Singh Khatri "recovering well in hospital" and said: "We brought him down from (8,749m) to (7,950m), where two Sherpas from his team met us and took on his care."

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The Nepali mountaineer posted footage of the rescue on his Instagram page.

He said: "Some of my Elite Exped team and I were involved in rescuing a climber from another guiding company on our way down from our Everest summit.

"We found the climber Capt Dipendra Singh Khatri, from another team, at the South Summit of Everest (8,749m). The climber had been there overnight.

Mr Purja, who is now working as a guide added: "I am thankful to my clients Jack and Will Lundin, for releasing me and Pasang Jharok to go and help with this rescue.

"Thank you to @anyatraveler for releasing @guideyukta and @alasdair_mckenzie for releasing Ki Temba to help. Even though they have paid us to be their guide, our clients kindly released us to help in this rescue."

'Leaving someone behind isn't in the blood'  

Mr Purja said: "Together we brought the climber all the way down to Camp 4 (7,950m) and there we handed the climber into the care of two Sherpas from the other guiding company.

"We are now all safe at Camp 2 – together with our clients who re-joined us at Camp 4. We understand the climber and Sherpas have not made it back to Camp 2 yet. We wish the rescued climber and the team the very best and all we hope for is that they are safe.

"I am very proud of my @eliteexped team and clients – on the mountain, we are all one community and we look out for each other."

The former Gurkhas noted: "I have never charged a penny for all the rescues I have done & that's also including my team from @eliteexped (Annapurna, Kanchenjunga Everest x 2)

"Leaving someone behind isn't in the blood."