By IANS
New Delhi : Complimenting an Indian Army expedition for its "dangerous and daring" scaling of Mount Everest, Defence Minister A.K. Antony Tuesday conveyed his "heartiest congratulations" to the team that put 12 men on the summit of the world's highest mountain.
"This is a happy and proud moment. My heartiest congratulations to the entire team. You have just completed a dangerous and daring mission," the minister said at a function here where he flagged in the expedition, the fourth to have climbed Everest in the last seven years.
"I am a man of few words so I do not know how to express my happiness," he added.
The summit was scaled on May 15 and 16, with six members of the team reaching the 8,850-metre summit on each of the two days.
Lt. Col. I.S. Thapa led the 23-member team that scaled the peak from its Northern face in Tibet. Capt. N.S. Chandel was the deputy leader. Both officers are from the Maratha Light Infantry regiment from which the team members were predominantly drawn.
The Indian Army chief, Gen. J.J. Singh, is the Colonel or father figure of the Maratha Light Infantry.
This is the eighth time an Indian Army expedition has scaled a peak higher than 8,000 metres. Everest was previously climbed in 2001, 2003 and 2005, while the other peaks scaled were Annapoorna in 2002, Lohtse in 2003, Kanchenjanga in 2004 and Cho Oyu in 2006.
The expedition was flagged off on March 20. It moved from Delhi on March 28 and arrived at Lhasa, via Kathmandu, on Mar 31. The team left Lhasa on Apr 2 for the Everest base camp and arrived there five days later via Gyantse, Shigatse and New Tingri.
The base camp was located on the Rongbuk glacier, where the road from Lhasa terminated.
Due to continuous bad weather from April 20, the first group of six summiteers could scale Everest only on May 15, with the second group, also of six summiteers, scaling it the next day.
An equal number of sherpas also accompanied the army personnel on both days.