Singapore is a hot and tropical country so many who love winter sports turn to other countries to do it.
That’s the same with trekking and climbing mountains. The highest point in Singapore, at Bukit Timah Hill, isn’t even high enough to be called a mountain.
But the downside with this is that Singaporeans might not have adequate training or be used to the high-altitude conditions associated with tall points and cold temperatures.
This could be risky for one’s health.
Indeed, a man passed away after attempting to scale Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa.
Here is what happened.
Man Passed Away After Attempting to Scale Mount Kilimanjaro
Zaobao reported that a 28-year-old man passed away after climbing Mount Kilimanjaro.
The man was reportedly there on a holiday organized by a tour company, and this tour was a package introduced for the National Day period.
Based on screenshots provided by a reader to Zaobao, 19 mountain lovers set off on 2 August to Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa and were scheduled to return to Singapore on 11 August.
Unfortunately, one of the participants, Mr Peng (Hanyu pinyin), never made it back to Singapore alive.
The reader also shared with Zaobao some screenshots which showed that the mountain lovers’ group were told about the man’s death.
The company said that they had taken adequate precautions during the trip, including monitoring the vital signs of all participants each day.
According to the company, the victim’s body was fine until the morning of the ascend to the summit.
The victim had reportedly been unwell and decided to follow the local guides to a lower-altitude camp for safety reasons.
However, when he returned to the lower camp, he continued to display symptoms of high fever and appeared to be suffering from high altitude sickness.
He did not get better and eventually passed away from High Altitude Pulmonary Edema (HAPE).
It was not revealed when the man passed away.
For those unaware, HAPE is a fatal form of severe high-altitude illness and typically occurs secondary to hypoxia.
This is the latest in some mountain-related misfortunes involving Singaporeans. Earlier this year, in May, a Singaporean climber went missing while climbing Mount Everest.
He had reached the summit before he went missing and has yet to be found.
He had contacted his wife that he had high-altitude cerebral edema and would unlikely make it down the mountain.