Ace mountaineer Mastan Babu dead

Nellore: Prominent mountaineer and Guinness record-holder Malli Mastan Babu, who remained untraced during the last 10 days after trying to scale the Andes Mountains, was found dead on Friday morning. His body was discovered during aerial search which was taken up on behalf of Chile, Argentina and India for the past four days. He was also the first Indian to summit Mt Vinson Massif, the tallest peak in Antarctica.

• Body found in the Andes
• To get State funeral
• He was the first Indian to summit Mt Vinson Massif

This primary information was conveyed to the Indian Embassy and also the State government. Mastan’s family members collapsed. While his mother Subbamma wept inconsolably, sister Dr Dorsanamma, associates and friends broke down. State Home Secretary Ramana Reddy telephoned Dr Dorsanamma and assured that the administration was ready to do everything possible.

She said Mastan, a bachelor and born in a tribal family, had done something bold not attempted by anyone in the country. He had been striving to bring glory to the country and died in the process. His sister wanted a State funeral to be given to her brother. A pall of gloom descended on Mastan’s native village of Gandhi Janasangham. In the Girijan Colony, his two brothers, two sisters, relatives and friends across the district broke down on hearing the tragic news.

They recalled his birth in a poor fishermen’s family. Yet he concentrated on studies and took up mountaineering with a keen desire to reach unprecedented heights. Mastan had given up a top job in 2013 and took to scaling high mountains, they recalled. Nellore MP Mekapati Rajamohan Reddy expressed grief over the death of a ‘rare gem’ like Mastan. He visited the colony along with Zilla Parishad chairman B Raghavendra Reddy and consoled Subbamma and Dorsanamma.

Both were moved on hearing about his historic achievements and life struggle by the mountaineer. The VIPs observed that the mountaineer’s life was inspiring and worthy of emulation. His childhood friend Subramanyam, a government teacher, said Mastan was a mountaineer about whom the country could be proud of. He had scaled seven peaks and tried to go up very cold Andrews Hills till the time of death. In tears, Subramanyam recalled that day Mastan returned after scaling Mount Everest displaying the cloth tied to his head, while atop the hill, and explaining the significance of his achievement.

Subramanyam said Mastan was a very bright student and was a product of IIT and IIM. Meanwhile, the Central and the State governments have begun the exercise of bringing Mastan’s body here. Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu directed the Indian Embassy to shift the body to Nellore from Chennai. He conveyed his condolences to the bereaved family. Orders have been issued to the State government to place the body at Korukonda Sainik School, where he studied, for some time to enable students to pay homage. A State funeral is to be given to Mastan, befitting the status of a prominent citizen.