He carried a dying climber for six hours; the man later blocked him
A high-altitude rescue on Mount Everest involving Gelje Sherpa and climber Ravichandran Tharumalingam sparked controversy after the rescued climber allegedly blocked his savior on social media. The incident highlights the complex intersection of heroic actions and digital-age social etiquette.
Why it matters
The story illustrates the power of social media in shaping public perception and accountability in high-stakes humanitarian situations.
While social media has been one of the greatest inventions made by humankind, it is also one of the cruellest. From restricting to blocking and even adding someone to close friends, people have multiple steps they can take to filter the importance of people in their lives and at times, it can hurt others. Most importantly, if you risked your own life to save another man's, carried his lifeless body through heavy snow for six hours and later got blocked by him on Instagram instead of being profusely thanked and honoured.In 2023, a video took social media by storm. It showed 30-year-old Gelje Sherpa descending Everest with a climber strapped to his back, a rescue under impossible circumstances. The climber was later identified as Malaysian national Ravichandran Tharumalingam.
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