Naval officer's daughter becomes youngest Indian to summit Mt Everest at 16 from Nepal side

Sixteen-year-old Kaamya Karthikeyan successfully summited Mt. Everest, becoming the youngest Indian mountaineer to scale the world's highest peak from the Nepal side, the Indian Navy said on Thursday. The daughter of a naval officer, Kaamya is a class 12 student at Navy Children School, Mumbai.

Kaamya and her father Cdr S Karthikeyan successfully summited Mt. Everest (8,849 m) on May 20, according to a statement issued by a Navy spokesperson.

"After this feat, she has become the second youngest girl in the world, and the youngest Indian mountaineer to summit the world's highest peak from the Nepal side," the statement said.


With this, Kaamya has completed six milestones in her mission to summit the highest peak of all seven continents and aims to climb Mt. Vinson Massif in Antarctica this December to become the youngest girl to accomplish the '7summits challenge', the Navy said.

The Indian Navy also shared her pictures in a post on X.

"#IndianNavy congratulates Ms Kaamya Karthikeyan d/o Cdr S Karthikeyan on becoming the youngest #Indian & the second youngest girl in the world to summit Mt Everest from the Nepal side.

"Kaamya has exhibited immense courage & fortitude in summiting the highest peaks in six of the seven continents," it said.

"#IndianNavy wishes young Kaamya the very best in her aspiration to summit the highest peaks of all seven continents, becoming the youngest girl to do so. #7SummitsChallenge," it added.

Over the decades, Mt. Everest has drawn mountaineers, young and old, from across the world.