First civilian expedition from Bengal scales Mt Everest

According to a message received from the expedition base camp at Solo Khumbu in Nepal, team leader Basanta Singha Roy and another member Debabrata Biswas reached the top of the world's highest mountain at 7:40 am.

The message said the two had set out from the summit camp at South Col above 26,000 feet at around 10:00 pm last night and reached the top after a gruelling climb of about ten hours.

The expedition organised by MAK which left for the mountain on April 4 had initially planned to climb through the Rongbook glacier, North Col and North East ridge route in Tibet, but were disallowed by the Chinese government.The expedition members then decided to climb from the traditional Khumbu Glacier, South Col, Southeast ridge route in Nepal.The expedition members set up their base camp at Solo Khumbu at 16,000 feet on  April 14. They set out from the base camp for the final push on May 13