Ajay Raina
JAMMU, Apr 27: An avid Kashmiri mountaineer died in the avalanche triggered by the earthquake in Nepal during her maiden attempt to scale Mount Everest.
Her passion for mountaineering knew no bounds but it ended in a tragedy as mother of two Renu Fotedar (49), wife of Lokesh Fotedar, a resident of Habbakadal, Kashmir, presently living in Montreux, Switzerland was killed by an avalanche on the base camp of Mount Everest triggered by a massive earthquake in Nepal two days back.
Ms Fotedar was among those who were killed in an avalanche on the mountain. At least 19 people at the Mount Everest base camp were killed in the avalanche, triggered by the quake.
One of her relatives while talking to the EXCELSIOR over phone confirmed the death of Renu Fotedar. He informed that Ms Fotedar died in an avalanche at Mount Everest which was triggered due to earthquake in Nepal.
Ms Fotedar’s body was located by her husband with the help of a Sherpa in the base camp along with a Japanese woman mountaineer, he said, adding that her body has been handed over to family members and will reach Mayur Vihar, New Delhi by tonight or by tomorrow for last rites. Ms Fotedar is survived by her husband and two children Sahil and Tushar, he informed.
On her website, Ms Fotedar described herself as a Transpersonal Counsellor who had worked throughout India, the Middle East, Europe and Australia.
She further wrote that she was planning to be in Nepal for about two months for the Everest trekking expedition, before travelling to a conference in Romania in June.
Tributes to Ms Fotedar were being posted on her Facebook page on Monday from her friends living across the world.
Not only her Indian friends but her foreigner friends also wrote on her Facebook profile and prayed for courage to the family to bear this irreparable loss.
A lover of adventure sports, Renu had climbed Mt Kilimanjaro in Tanzania last year before embarking on her ambitious plan to conquer the world’s highest peak Mount Everest.
Renu moved out of the Kashmir Valley after the Kashmiri Pandits migrated in the early 1990’s. She stayed in Udhampur of Jammu region before shifting to Delhi for her higher studies.
Married to Lokesh Fotedar, a businessman, the family moved to Australia where they got citizenship of that country.
Renu had recently moved to Switzerland and was founder of Athena International Academy of Behavioural Sciences and Evolutionary Human skills in Switzerland.
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