Army man, member of team that spotted ‘Yeti’ footprint dies

Army man Naik Narayan Singh, part of the 18-member Indian Army Mountaineering Expedition that spotted mysterious footprints of mythical creature ‘Yeti’, died while descending from the Mount Makalu summit point. The team had successfully climbed Mt Makalu (8,485 metres) on Thursday.

“It is informed that the 18 member Indian Army Mountaineering Expedition team to Mt Makalu (8485m) had successfully scaled the peak on 16 May 2019. While descending from the summit point to Camp IV (first camp during the descent), one of the team member Naik Narayan Singh died,” said the Indian Army in a release.

Singh had joined the Army in 2002 and hailed from Pithoragarh in Uttarakhand. A keen mountaineer, he was a part of several other mountaineering expeditions, said the Army. Last year, he successfully summited Mount Kamet. He is survived by his wife and three young children. “A sincere and brave soldier he will be missed by all,” said the Army.

Mount Makalu is considered amongst the most dangerous and challenging peaks to summit. It is located in the Mahalangur Himalayas, some 19 kilometres southeast of Mount Everest, on the border between Nepal and Tibet, China. Indian Army had undertaken this mountaineering expedition in furtherance of the objective of summiting challenging peaks above 8000 metres.

In a tweet on April 29, the Indian Army had informed that a Mountaineering Expedition team had spotted the giant footprint – measuring 35X15 inches – in the snow. The tweet was accompanied by several photos showing the massive footprint.