AN Oldham mountaineer who is thought to be the first British Bangladeshi to scale Mount Everest has spoken out on the climb which saw him left hanging by a safety line after plunging into a crevasse.

Akke Rahman, who reached the peak of the highest mountain in the world on May 13 at 7.30am Nepal time, has said his achievement has “still not sunk in”.

The 39-year-old had an eventful trek.

Akke began the challenge during Ramadan, meaning he had been fasting for nearly two weeks before setting off, fell down a crevasse early on, and missed celebrating Eid with his family.

While returning to base camp after his first rotation, a climb partway up the mountain and back down to help acclimatise, Akke slipped and fell into a crevasse and was left hanging by a safety line.

“I was hanging there for about 45 minutes thinking about all the negative thoughts and all the things that people told me about not coming,” he said.

Eventually, he was pulled to safety by Sherpas, however.

Combined with this, missing his family – he has one daughter, 15, and two sons, 10 and six – during Ramadan had a strong effect on him.

“Leading up to Eid, that was really depressing,” he said.

“For two days I was in my tent, and I was like breaking down.

“At one point I did think, ‘Should I just pack it in?’. But I just thought about the reason why I’m here, all the training and everything that I’ve done, all these years they’ve been leading up to this and this is my chance.

“I kept on going and then I found myself on the top taking pictures.”

Akke who has so far raised more than £80,000 for Orphans Shelter Foundation as a result of his climb, said there was not much time for emotion once he reached the top.

“When I got to the summit, I sort of broke down because I had realised my dreams and ambition, and God had made my dreams come true.

“I broke down, but my Sherpa was such a hard guy, he was a tough nut to crack. He just said, ‘Get up, come on, let’s take some pictures – we can’t spend too long here’.

“So he put a stop to all that.”

Reflecting on seeing some of the world’s tallest mountains from the top of Everest, Akke said: “The beauty is just beyond.

“You can see Cho Oyu, which is another 8,000m or so, in one of my pictures. Makalu is right next to me. You can see Lhotse. There’s so much to see.

“You can see into Tibet.

“Oh man, it’s just… I can’t believe it. I was there. I can’t believe I was there.

“It’s still not sunk in yet.”

To find out more about Akke’s fundraising and donate, visit justgiving.com/team/peak-humanity