13-year-old Indian, Malavath Poorna has successfully climbed to the top of Mount Everest, making the teenager the youngest girl to garner the achievement.
Poorna whose parents are poor farmers was chosen from a group of disadvantaged children for a government program to inspire young people.
She had never taken a step on a mountain before taking this challenge.
They had to take the hard way from the Tibetan side, a 52-day trek that included some of the steepest climbs on the mountain and some of the most perilous.
Even while Purna was there, an avalanche on the other side of the mountain killed 16 Sherpa guides, triggering a labor dispute that threatened to abandon climbers on the mountain.
“My instructors told me I’d see dead bodies on the way to the summit. I knew every step was dangerous. I just carried on climbing,” Purna told the media on Wednesday in New Delhi after hoisting the Indian flag at the peak of Mount Everest.