By DPA
Kathmandu : Nepalese authorities have barred an American mountaineer from climbing the Mount Everest after discovering a Free Tibet banner in his possession, Nepalese media reports said Wednesday.
The mountaineer, who was not identified, was asked to return to Kathmandu after Nepalese security personnel discovered the banner at the Mount Everest base camp, the Nepali-language Kantipur newspaper said.
“We asked the climber to be sent back to Kathmandu immediately,” the newspaper quoted an unnamed home ministry official as saying.
The climber belonged to the Eco-Everest Expedition 2008, which a aims to highlight the effects of global warning on glaciers as well as the garbage left behind by climbers in the Everest region.
“We are trying to get more details surrounding the incident to determine the nature of the violation and extent of the action,” the newspaper quoted the official as saying.
The action is the first by the Nepalese government since it announced stringent security measures on the world’s highest mountain in the run-up to the planned leg of the Chinese Olympic torch relay that is to scale the world’s highest mountain.
Last week, the government said it was deploying nearly two dozen soldiers and police at Camp 2 on Mount Everest, located at more than 6,500 metres above sea level.