Mountaineer Kalpana Dash’s body to reach Odisha tomorrow evening

Bhubaneswar: Body of Odisha mountaineer Kalpana Dash, who died at the balcony area of Mount Everest on May 23, is likely to reach the Biju Patnaik International Airport here tomorrow evening.

The body is expected to reach the airport around 9 pm and all formalities in this regard have been completed, reports said.

Her body was today retrieved and brought to Base Camp-4 of the peak. The body will be sent to Kathmandu, from where it will be brought to Bhubaneswar.

A three-member team, comprising Kalpana’s brother Pradeep, mountaineer Ganesh Jena and her relative Ranjit Karmi, had earlier left for Kathmandu to bring back the body. The entire expenses of bringing back the body are being borne by the State Government.

On the fateful day, Kalpana along with Kanchhi Maya Tamang from Nepal and Liyamu Ma from China made it to the summit point of Mount Everest. She breathed her last near the balcony area while descending from the summit point.

Hailing from Dhenkanal district in Odisha, Kalpana had climbed different peaks in India, Nepal, Europe, South America and Australia. She was the first woman from Odisha to scale Mount Everest.