Everest conquerors fly home today; Wasfia reaches Kathmandu
After their successful ascent of Mount Everest, two Bangladeshi mountaineers Nishat Majumder and MA Mohit will return home today.
They are scheduled to arrive in Dhaka at 1:40pm on a flight of Biman Bangladesh Airlines.
“Our flight will take off at 12:25pm [BST] from Kathmandu…. I am very excited at returning home after such a long time. I just can’t express my feelings,” Nishat told
The Daily Star over the phone.
On May 19, she became the first Bangladeshi woman to scale Mt Everest.
The two could not receive their certificates of success yesterday as it was a public holiday in Nepal.
“We will try to receive our certificates before our flight tomorrow [Sunday]. If we fail, our Sherpa will collect it from the Nepali Ministry of Tourism,” she added.
Although Mohit had earlier requested the Bangladesh embassy in Kathmandu to host its planned reception to them by Saturday, the mission could not arrange the programme
before Monday. As a result, they are coming back home without being accorded the reception.
Their chief Sherpa Mingma Gylje Sherpa will come to Dhaka with them.
Officials of the Bangladesh Tourism Board will receive Nishat and Mohit at Shahjalal International Airport. Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister Muhammad Faruk Khan is
likely to welcome them home, said Akhtaruzzaman Khan Kabir, chief executive officer of the board.
Upon their arrival, Bangla Mountaineering and Trekking Club (BMTC) will arrange a motor rally. It will commence at the airport and pass through different streets
before concluding at the Nayabazar residence of Mohit, said Reaz Ahmed, general secretary of BMTC.
On the way, they will place floral wreaths at the Central Shaheed Minar to pay homage to the martyrs of Language Movement.
Dhaka Wasa will host a reception to them, but the date of the event is yet to be finalised, said an official of the organisation, where Nishat works as an accountant.
Nishat, accompanied by Mohit, began her expedition to the Everest on April 9 from Kathmandu as part of the campaign, “Because I am a Girl”, by Plan Bangladesh.
WASFIA AWAITS KATHMANDU FLIGHT
Meanwhile, another Bangladeshi Everest conqueror Wasfia Nazreen hopes to reach Kathmandu today from Lukla by a special helicopter, if the weather remains favourable.
“I was scheduled to fly to Kathmandu this [Saturday] morning. But the flight was cancelled due to heavy fog,” Wasfia told this newspaper.
On May 26, she scaled the world’s highest peak, the second Bangladeshi woman to do so.
She started her Everest expedition on March 26 on the theme, “Bangladesh on Seven Summits,” supported by the Liberation War Museum of Bangladesh.
Mohit is the first Bangladeshi to have climbed Mt Everest twice. He first reached the mountain peak on May 21 last year.
Musa Ibrahim, the first Bangladeshi to achieve the feat, had earlier conquered the Everest on May 23, 2010.
-With The Daily Star input
