Worlds Youngest Female Everest Climber Is an Indian Girl

Very recently, a 13-year old Indian girl who is studying class IX, became the youngest female climber of Everest.

Her name is Malavath Purna, who hailed from Pakala village in Nizamabad district of Telangana State.

Purna achieved this on 25th May, 2014, at the age of age of 13 years, 11 months,who is just a month older than the previous record holder.

As per BBC, the previous record was on the name of American boy Jordan Romero,who achieved this at the age of 13 years 10 months in 2010.

A 16-year old boy named Sadhanapalli Anand Kumar was her companion at the time of her climbing.

Both Purna and Anand are studying in Social Welfare Residential School.

Purna is from a poor family and her parents are daily wage workers.

Due to her excellence in studies and extracurricular activities, she was given this opportunity.

For this she had to undergo a four-stage screening test.

She was selected from 150 children and was short-listed for expedition after trained by a prestigious mountaineering Institute in Darjeeling.

She was very excited when she climbed and reached to the elevation of 29,029 feet.

The expedition took 52 days, during which she had to face many challenges.

In her own words, eating packaged food was the most challenging part, as she did not like its smell and taste.

This achievement had also eradicated her poverty..

Telangana chief minister Mr. K. Chandra Sekhar Rao announced Rs. 25 lakhs cash prize to both Purna and Anand on their achievement in addition to the allotment of 5 Acres of land to each of them.

A special award of Rs. 25 lakhs is announced to their coach Sekhar Babu.

Purna would like to become a police officer as an homage to a retired police officer who introduced her and her friends to mountaineering.

Photo by Ezra Jeffrey-Comeau on Unsplash (Free for Commercial Use)

Image Reference: https://unsplash.com/photos/l7Qzmu9KT4E