Charity climber attacked by Yak near Mount Everest

Emma Keen continued with her challenge despite attack that left her with gash to leg
Base Camp at Mount Everest
AFP/Getty Images
Robert Dex @RobDexES25 March 2024

A charity climber made it to the end of a challenging Mount Everest trek despite being attacked by a yak on the way.

Emma Keen, from Wales, was trekking to the mountain’s basecamp to raise funds for a kidney charity when she was attacked leaving her with a three inch gash to her leg.

The mountaineer was four days into her 130km trek when she was attacked by the animal in a village in Nepal.

She told Wales Online: “I was speaking to my brother and his wife and their son Bobi showing them the yak on FaceTime. I was around two metres away from him.

"Without warning I could hear the hoofs pounding towards me, a sharp stabbing pain in the top of my leg. It threw me up in the air around a metre and I landed back down with a thud.

“Clutching my upper leg I looked and the yak was dragging its hoof in the dusty ground ready to go at me for a second time with his horns down.”

She managed to raise the alarm and was helped by fellow walkers before she was airlifted to hospital where her wound was dressed and she was stitched up

Emma then vowed to finish the trek and rejoined her fellow walkers doing the final stretch of the journey on horseback.

She said she was inspired by her brother who is currently waiting for a transplant, saying: “When the accident happened I just kept thinking of him and how he would feel if I got to Basecamp.”

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