Chitwan, Aug 2: The family of record-breaking mountaineer Nirmal Purja ‘Nims Dai’, who died in an avalanche, is in mourning, as are his neighbours and teachers of his hometown school.
Following his death in an avalanche on Pakistan’s Mt. Broad Peak, family members, neighbors and teachers of Small Heaven school are in mourning.
Neighbors and relatives have been gathering at his childhood home in Ramnagar since this morning to pay their respects. His second eldest brother Jeet Bahadur Purja recalls his brother always telling him about his next mountaineering expedition but not when he went to Pakistan.
Mourning the death of Nims Dai, a neighbor, Jibnath Parajuli, paid tributes to him by garlanding his photo and lighting lamps at his house in Ramnagar
Born in Dana, Annapurna Rural Municipality-2, Myagdi, Nirmal studied from Grade 3 to 10 at Small Heaven School in Aanpatari. The school that was initially in Aanpatari has now shifted to Kalyanpur. After Grade 10, he joined the British Army.
His sports teacher, Surendra Baral, recalled spending time with Nirmal for about seven years. Baral said that he had a courageous and disciplined nature since he was a child.
Shailendra Baral, the hostel in-charge of Small Haven School, said that Nimal was a disciplined student of the school. He said that the entire school was shocked by his death.
Small Haven School Principal Ramchandra Neupane recalled how happy he was when his student set a world record and entered the Guinness Book of World Records, and said that the school family is now saddened and shocked by the death of a former student.
