Malli Mastan Babu, the 40-year-old missing Indian mountaineer, was found dead in the Andes mountain ranges in Chile in South America by the helicopter search teams, his family sources said here on Saturday.
He went missing in the mountains on March 24 when three other members of his expedition returned because of the weather suddenly turning hostile with heavy rains and gales.
He last called his family members on March 21 before starting the climb. The Indian Mission in Chile had intervened and intense search operations were launched after Babu did not return after several days.
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His friends among the mountaineering enthusiasts had also come forward to rescue him but in vain. Mastan Babu’s mother Mastanamma wailed inconsolably at their hometown, Gandhi Jana Sangham, a tribal locality located in Sangham mandal headquarters town in the rural parts of Nellore district.
Mastan Babu had earlier scaled several insurmountable mountain peaks and achieved records and accomplishments all over the world. He was the first person from Andhra Pradesh to scale Mt. Everest in the Himalayas.
The family members were saddened at the sudden twist of fate as they had been confident of Mastan Babu returning home safely, as in the past. He faced similar difficult situations earlier but had overcome them.
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Mastan Babu had the distinction of setting a Guinness Book record by surmounting seven peaks in seven continents in 172 days in 2006.