A DEAF man has been forced to put his plans to complete a gruelling charity hike through the Himalayas on hold following the United States terrorist attacks.

Jimmy Anderson, 41, of Barn Meadow, Clayton Brook, was due to take part in the Deafway Himalayan Challenge 2 in October.

But organisers have decided the original route, which included a stopover in the Middle East, is now too risky. The reorganised trip is expected to go ahead in February.

The married father of one, a team leader at the Deafway residential unit, Preston, has already received support from readers of the Lancashire Evening Telegraph's sister Citizen series to reach his £3,000 fund-raising target. He said: "I am continuing to collect donations because we are still going -- it's only a change in dates. The problem was the airline we were to take was QATER and that is United Arab Emirates' airline and we were to do a stopover in Doha, which is in the Middle East.

"Our organisers have cancelled this, we are now hoping to use India's own airline and will re-route to Delhi to avoid the risk."

The challenge involves walking for more than 10 days to cover 100 kilometres within the sight of Mount Everest.