ERBIL — For the first time in history, a Kurdish mountaineer hoisted the Kurdistan flag on the highest mountain in the world.
Ranj Omar departed the Kurdistan Region early in March, heading to Nepal to fulfill his dream of planting the Kurdistan flag next to others on the very summit of Mount Everest.
Omar’s family told BasNews on Monday that they managed to establish contact after 20 days since he had lost connection in the harsh nature of the mountains in Nepal.
“He confirmed that he had reached the summit but he barely had access to internet or networks to contact the family,” Rezhin Ahmed, Ranj Omar’s wife said. “He will probably climb down the mountain and prepare to return to the Kurdistan Region in the coming days.”
The flag which Omar planted on Mount Everest was presented to him in 2017 by Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani.
He revealed his plan to take the flag to the highest peak in the world last September during an interview with BasNews, saying that his dream had started in 2017 when the Kurdistan Region held the historic independence referendum.
“My dream is to be able to take this sacred flag of Kurdistan, which President Barzani gave it to me, to the highest mountain in the world and let it fly there,” he said back then.
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