Musa climbed Everest : Aussie mountaineer

Australian mountaineer Brendan O'Mahoney has said he has no doubts that Bangladesh’s Musa Ibrahim scaled the Mount Everest.

O'Mahoney, who had followed him towards the Everest summit, made the statement in a video posted on the Facebook page of Musa, who claimed to be the first Bangladeshi Everest winner.

He said he was absolutely sure that Musa, now facing allegations of faking his Everest climb, could reach at the top of the world’s tallest mountain.

He claimed that he saw the Bangladesh climber at the third step, the last barrier to the summit.

“I distinctly remember arriving just as the sun was coming up to base of the third step… When I eventually climbed to the top of the third step – I distinctly remember – I saw the climber…, recognised now as Musa Ibrahim, in a bright, very distinctively bright orange jacket,” O'Mahoney said.

“He passed by me at the top of the third step and then about 25 or 30 minutes later I myself got to the top of the Everest and perhaps one hour later when I was coming down to the second step, I came across the same gentleman, Musa, in a bright orange jacket,” he added.

Musa’s name is not included in ‘Nepal Mountain’, a publication of Nepal’s tourism ministry and mountaineering association on those winning the Everest.

Some in Bangladesh, including mountaineers, have also been questioning the authenticity of his reaching the summit. Even the court was moved over the issue.

The matter came to the forefront after a private TV channel aired a series of reports on it.

In a latest twist in this saga, Musa’s co-climber Meer Shamsul Alam Babu alleged that he (Musa) took certificate of winning Mount Langsisa Ri even though he did not scale it.