Islamabad — Rescuers searching for 10 climbers missing after an avalanche on Pakistan’s Broad Peak located four bodies Friday and were continuing to search for the others despite adverse weather that hampered helicopter flights, officials said. Acclaimed British-Nepali climber Nirmal Purja was among the missing.
Bad weather continued to hamper the search-and-rescue effort Friday, according to a statement from the Gilgit-Baltistan region’s Chief Minister Amjad Hussain.
But the Gilgit-Baltistan region’s police spokesperson said in a statement on Facebook that, “Preliminary reports indicate that four bodies have so far been recovered,” according to French news agency AFP.
The climbers lost contact with their base camp after an avalanche struck Broad Peak while they were attempting to scale the mountain, said Karrar Haidri, vice president of the Alpine Club of Pakistan. “The team has been out of communication since Thursday,” said Haidri, adding that army helicopters were part of the search-and-rescue operation.
According to the Alpine Club, the expedition comprised five Nepali climbers, Pakistani mountaineer Sohail Sakhi, Omani climber Nathira, American climber Mallory Geis, a Chinese climber identified only as Wang, and another foreign climber.
On Friday, China’s government said it was trying to verify whether any of its nationals were among the 10 missing.
“We will provide assistance to Chinese citizens in need and are also willing to offer help in accordance with the needs of the Pakistani side,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said Friday in Beijing.
Purja, 43, a Nepal-born former soldier in the British army widely known as Nims Dai, was the expedition leaded. 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 surpassed 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 company said this was Geis’ first try at an 8,000-meter (26,000 foot) peak in Pakistan, while it was expected to be Sakhi’s final one.
Sakhi is a guide for the company, as well as a geographer and high-altitude photographer, and has climbed some of the world’s major peaks, according to Moving Mountains’ website.
Geis, 39, lives in San Antonio. She announced on social media earlier this year that she was closing her Pilates studio to take “a giant leap of faith into the unknown to see where life goes. I have a sneaking suspicion there will be lots of helmets, harnesses, and crampons involved.”
Broad Peak, at 26,401 feet, is the world’s 12th-highest mountain. It lies in Pakistan’s Karakoram range, home to five of the world’s 14 peaks above 26,000 feet, attracting climbers from around the globe.
Accidents are common during climbing expeditions in northern Pakistan because of avalanches and rapidly changing weather.
