Aparna Kumar becomes first woman IPS to reach South Pole

New Delhi, Jan 22 (IANS) Deputy Inspector General of Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) Aparna Kumar has become the first woman Indian Police Service (IPS) officer to reach South Pole.

Kumar, a 2002-batch IPS officer, reached the South Pole on January 13 in a group of five that included Rod, a British Airways pilot from the United Kingdom, Guy Manning from Cayman Islands, Pavell from Czech Republic and Katsuya from Japan.

"Aparna Kumar is the first woman IPS who achieved the success," ITBP spokesperson Vivek Pandey told IANS.

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh appreciated Kumar over her success after she met him at his office earlier in the day.

Felicitating the officer, Singh said: "It is indeed a big achievement for the ITBP as well as for the country that the first woman IPS officer and a DIG of ITBP reached South Pole."

Sharing her experience of the excursion to South Pole, Kumar said: "I started the South Pole expedition on December 30, 2018 from New Delhi to Santiago (Chile) and flew to Punta Areans (Chile). On January 1, I met other team members. On January 3, the team left for Union Glacier Antarctica by the Russian cargo flight 'Ilyshin'. It was a five-and-a-half hour journey to Union Glacier from Punta Arenas.

"On January 6, at about 9.45 a.m, our team left Union Glacier by the smaller Bessler aircraft which dropped us at 89 degrees south after a journey of four hours. We skied for two hours and camped for the day. From January 7, we started skiing. We all reached South Pole on January 13, 2019 at 1.20 p.m. On January 14, we left South Pole and reached Union Glacier."