Renowned British-Nepali climber Nirmal Purja and all the other nine climbers swept away by an avalanche in Pakistan have died, and search teams were trying to recover their bodies, Purja's expedition company said Saturday.
“The world has lost one of mountaineering's greatest climbers,” the company, Elite Expeditions, said.
Karrar Haidri, the vice president of the Alpine Club of Pakistan, confirmed the news.
“This is heartbreaking news for all of us, and we extend our condolences to the families and friends of the climbers,” The Associated Press quoted Haidri as saying.
The 10-member expedition was swept away by an avalanche Thursday on Pakistan’s Broad Peak.
Rescuers found four bodies and recovered three of them Friday in harsh weather that hampered flights by search and rescue helicopters. Rescuers backed by military helicopters had resumed a search earlier on Saturday for the others.
A local police official, Tahir Khan, said the remains of Omani climber Nathira Ahmed were being flown to the capital, Islamabad, while the bodies of American climber Mallory Geis and Nepalese climber Bahadur Gurung remained at a hospital in Skardu, the main city in Pakistan’s northern Gilgit-Baltistan region.
The team lost contact with their base camp Thursday after the avalanche struck Broad Peak as they attempted to scale the mountain.
According to the Alpine Club, the expedition included five Nepalese climbers, the Omani and American climbers, Pakistani climber Sohail Sakhi, a Chinese climber identified only as Wang and another foreign climber whose identity has not been released.
The expedition was led by Purja, the Nepal-born former British Army soldier widely known as Nims Dai. He climbed the world’s 14 highest peaks in a record 189 days in 2019, an achievement featured in the Netflix documentary “14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible.” His record was broken in 2023.
Moving Mountains, a travel company based in Pakistan, announced late last month that the expedition team was on its way to the small town of Askole and wished them a safe journey climbing Broad Peak.
The expedition was Geis’ first try at an 8,000-meter peak in Pakistan, while it was expected to be the final one for Sakhi, who is a guide for the company, as well as a geographer and high-altitude photographer who has climbed some of the world’s major peaks, according to the Moving Mountains website.
Accidents are common on climbing expeditions in northern Pakistan because of avalanches, falling ice and rock, high altitude and rapidly changing weather.
