Two students from the Telangana Social Welfare Residential Educational Institutions Society (TSWREIS) successfully scaled the highest mountain in Europe, Mt Elbrus on 27 July.
The climbers are Malavath Poorna, who is the world’s youngest girl to scale Mt Everest – a record she broke at age 13, in 2014 – and 16-year-old Sri Vidya.
Poorna is currently studying at a residential degree college in Ibrahimpatan, while Vidya – a native of Nalgonda district – hails from a social welfare residential school at Alair.
TSWREIS secretary, and mentor to the girls, RS Praveen Kumar said: “We are excited to share with you that at 7:30 am on 27 July (Russian Time), Sri Vidya and Poorna reached the tip of Mt Elbrus, the highest peak of Europe. For Poorna it is third highest peak in row. Earlier she scaled Mt Everest (Asia) and Mt Kilimanjaro (Africa)”.
Poorna, who hails from a tribal hamlet in Telangana's Nizamabad district, told The Hindu:
I have so far conquered three highest mountain peaks in the three continents of the world – Mt Everest in Asia, Mt Kilimanjaro, Africa, and Mt Elbrus in Europe. My aim is to conquer the top peaks in all seven continents.
The team began their expedition from Hyderabad on 21 June. Apart from Poorna and Vidya, the team included U Raghunath Reddy (28), a native of Tadepalli in Guntur district, Satya Rao (20) from Bangarupalem village in Visakhapatnam district and Varsha Rahul (28) from Pune, the Times of India reported.
The team hoisted the Indian national flag on top of the peak, and sang the national anthem.
“As a mark of tribute, I hoisted the portrait of Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on the top of the Mt Elbrus. The chief minister sanctioned 53 welfare residential degree colleges for women and men which no other state in India has done before,” Vidya was quoted as saying.
(This copy first appeared on The News Minute and has been republished with permission.)
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