Friends confirm Malli Mastan Babu's death in the Andes

Hyderabad, April 4: The 40-year-old ace Indian mountaineer Malli Mastan Babu, who has been missing since March 24 in the Andes Mountains in Argentina, is reported to have been found dead. The Illionois-based Umashankar Kopalle confirmed Mastan Babu's death. Umashankar, who originally hails from Hyderabad, had created awareness about the rescue operations through a Facebook titled 'Rescue Malli Mastan Babu’. Friends and well-wishers of Mastan Babu set up the Facebook page and they relentlessly covered rescue operations. However, the last post appears to have given up all hope. The last message was heartbreaking - "Mountains retained its favourite child. RIP Malli Mastan Babu". Mastan Babu's brother Prakash in Hyderabad, however, stated that the family has no official confirmation of his death. Mastan Babu hails from Nellore in Andhra Pradesh. He had close to 12 years of experience climbing mountain peaks.