Former British Gurkha Army Hari Budha Magar is welcomed by a huge crowd at Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA) in Kathmandu on Tuesday after making history by scaling Mt. Everest.
Magar created the world record of being the first ‘double amputee above the knees’ after successfully climbing the world’s highest peak with the help of prosthetic legs.
Magar joined the British Army when he was 19. In 2010, when in Afghanistan, Magar stepped on an IED (Improvised Explosive Device) causing him to lose both his legs, both above the knee.
In 2017, he climbed the Mera Peak to become the first double above-knee amputee to ever summit a mountain above 6,000 metres.
In 2018, he, with the support of disability organisations and people living with a disability was able to overturn a Supreme Court ban on solo, visually impaired and double amputee climbers.
On May 19, 2023, Hari stood atop Mount Everest.