Pioneer in short

Two Indians die descending Everest

Two Indian mountaineers who summited Everest have died while descending, an official said on Friday. The climbers, identified as Arun Kumar Tiwari and Sandeep Are, were exhausted while they were coming down from the peak and could not be saved despite the best efforts of their guides, said Rishi Bhandari, secretary general of the Expedition Operators Association of Nepal. It appears that Are summited on Wednesday and Tiwari on Thursday around 5.30 pm, Bhandari told PTI. The guides “worked really hard” but were not able to save them, he said. Tiwari died near the Hillary Step, just below the summit, after falling ill during his descent on Thursday evening while being assisted by four Sherpa climbers, said Nivesh Karki, Director at Pioneer Adventures, which organised the expedition.

Are summited on Wednesday but became unwell during the descent. He was rescued by Sherpa guides from the South Summit and died shortly after arriving at Camp II early Friday, Karki said. Efforts are underway to bring back the bodies of the deceased climbers to Kathmandu, Karki said. With this, the death toll on Everest has reached five in this season. Earlier, three Nepali climbers died on Mt Everest. On Wednesday, three Indians, including Are, were part of 274 climbers who summited the 8,848.86-metre peak. It was a new record for the highest number of ascents ever recorded in a day. The other two were Tulasi Reddi Palpunoori and Ajay Pal Singh Dhaliwal. The following day, on Thursday, India’s Lakshmikanta Mandal also reached the world’s highest peak.

‘NEET-UG re-test to be 100% error-free’

Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Friday said the Government had to take “tough decisions” after irregularities were detected in the conduct of the NEET-UG, asserting that authorities did not want even a single deserving student to lose their rightful seat because of the “examination mafia”. He also asserted that the Government is committed to ensuring that the re-test scheduled to be held on June 21 remains “100 per cent error-free”. Addressing the Jagran Bharat Education Conclave 2026, Pradhan said around 22 lakh students have suffered “mental anguish” due to the controversy surrounding the medical-entrance exam, and the Government is committed to fixing the system. “Twenty-two lakh children have gone through immense mental anguish. Understanding that anguish and taking responsibility, I am saying this today, we had to take some tough decisions,” he said.