Darjeeling, May 22: A member of the Darjeeling Himalayan Mountaineering Institute’s team that scaled Mt Makalu three days ago was seriously injured during the expedition.

Sangat Ram Thakur has been airlifted from the base camp and admitted to the intensive care unit of a nursing home in Kathmandu. According to family sources, the 36-year-old is fighting for his life.

Lakpa Doma Sherpa, Thakur’s mother-in-law, told The Telegraph today that the family received a call from the HMI on Tuesday evening. “We were told to come to Kathmandu immediately and my daughter Rinchen Lhamu left the next day.”

Around 6.45am on Tuesday, the HMI team had climbed Mt Makalu, the fifth highest in the world, to become the first Indian team to achieve the feat. With the team facing communication problem, the exact location where Thakur had met with the accident is not known.

“It is learnt that he banged his head when he fell while skiing and there seems to be a haemorrhage on the right side of his head,” Doma said.

A source in the HMI, however, said: “There was no official confirmation about any casualty to the team.”