A 10-member international mountaineering team led by renowned Nepali climber, Royal Marine Nirmal Puja, is feared missing after an avalanche on Pakistan’s Broad Peak hit the team. Broad Peak is one of the world’s highest mountains. Pakistani mountaineering official says the avalanche hit at around midday on Thursday on the 8,047-meter peak in the Karakoram range.
“We are coordinating with the authorities and trying to arrange a helicopter rescue on Friday morning Pakistani time depending on weather condition,” Karrar Haidri, the vice-president of the Alpine Club of Pakistan told the BBC.
There has been no subsequent communication with the team. The team consists of an American, a Chinese national, a Pakistani, an Omani, and six Nepalese mountaineers who are said to be a part of the climbing room according to the Alpine Club of Pakistan. Nirmal Purja is the expedition leader and is known for climbing all 14 of the world’s 8,000-meter-plus mountains in just over six months in 2019. Broad Peak is regarded as one of the most challenging mountains for expedition and is ranked as the world’s 12th highest peak.
“The Club prays for the safety and successful rescue of all the climbers and stands in solidarity with their families and the international mountaineering community during this difficult time,” the club further said in its statement.
Nirmal Puja joined the British military and became but left the army and joined and became the tour guide in 2018. In 2021, Nirmal Puja completed the first winter ascent of K2 as part of a team of nine other Nepalese climbers.
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The latest reports suggest, the GPS data from the missing climbers’ trackers provide clues on what happened when the avalanche hit Broad Peak. Samson Sharaf, the mentor of one of the ten missing climbers, shared GPS data to industry website Climbing, which indicates that the avalanche hit between 8:57 and 9:30 local time. At that time, American climber Mallory Geis, according to her GPS tracker, descended by 543 meters, while Omani climber Nadira Al Harthy descended by 1,651 meters.
Reports also suggested that the tracking device belonging to Nirmal Purja had been showing movement. However, according to the reports published in AP, the rescuers have been able to find the bodies of four climbers, while the search continues for the other six climbers. Bad weather continued to hamper the rescue effort Friday, according to a statement from the regional Gilgit-Baltistan’s Chief Minister, Amjad Hussain.
