KATHMANDU // An Indian woman who lost her leg after she was thrown from a moving train two years ago has become the first female amputee to climb Everest.
Arunima Sinha, 26, from Uttar Pradesh, reached the peak on Tuesday morning after a slow climb from Everest Base Camp.
"She left high camp at 6pm on Monday evening and arrived at the summit at 10.55am on Tuesday," Ang Tshering Sherpa, founder of Asian Trekking, the company that organised the expedition, said yesterday.
Ms Sinha's guides were concerned about her slow pace until the team reached an 8,750-metre junction that climbers pass through on their way to the top of the mountain, Mr Sherpa said.
"But once she got to that point, she gained energy and confidence and started moving really quickly."
Two years ago, the former national-level volleyball player was shoved from a moving train by thieves when she reportedly attempted to fight them off as they tried to stealing her purse.
A passing train crushed her left leg, forcing doctors to amputate below the knee to save her life.
"At that time everyone was worried for me. I then realised I had to do something in my life so that people stop looking at me with pity," Ms Sinha said before leaving for the climb.
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Company name: Revibe
Started: 2022
Founders: Hamza Iraqui and Abdessamad Ben Zakour
Based: UAE
Industry: Refurbished electronics
Funds raised so far: $10m
Investors: Flat6Labs, Resonance and various others
The biog
Mission to Seafarers is one of the largest port-based welfare operators in the world.
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Company name: Nomad Homes
Started: 2020
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How to invest in gold
Investors can tap into the gold price by purchasing physical jewellery, coins and even gold bars, but these need to be stored safely and possibly insured.
A cheaper and more straightforward way to benefit from gold price growth is to buy an exchange-traded fund (ETF).
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Another way to invest in gold’s success is to buy gold mining stocks, but Mr Gravier says this brings added risks and can be more volatile. “They have a serious downside potential should the price consolidate.”
Mr Kyprianou says gold and gold miners are two different asset classes. “One is a commodity and the other is a company stock, which means they behave differently.”
Mining companies are a business, susceptible to other market forces, such as worker availability, health and safety, strikes, debt levels, and so on. “These have nothing to do with gold at all. It means that some companies will survive, others won’t.”
By contrast, when gold is mined, it just sits in a vault. “It doesn’t even rust, which means it retains its value,” Mr Kyprianou says.
You may already have exposure to gold miners in your portfolio, say, through an international ETF or actively managed mutual fund.
You could spread this risk with an actively managed fund that invests in a spread of gold miners, with the best known being BlackRock Gold & General. It is up an incredible 55 per cent over the past year, and 240 per cent over five years. As always, past performance is no guide to the future.
Company Profile
Company name: Cargoz
Date started: January 2022
Founders: Premlal Pullisserry and Lijo Antony
Based: Dubai
Number of staff: 30
Investment stage: Seed