Daily Times

Two Japanese climbers went missing while attempting to scale the 8,611-metre-tall K2 peak, the second-highest mountain in the world, on Saturday morning.

Shigar Deputy Commissioner (DC) Waliullah Falahi said that Japanese climbers Kazuya Hirade and Kenro Nakajima fell down from a height of 7,500m, west of K2.

He said Pakistan Army helicopters conducted a search operation in the area, adding that two military helicopters flew from Skardu and searched for the climbers at the peak. He said they spotted the fallen climbers below the 100m mark but it was observed that the men had no movement. The DC said the helicopters could not land or hover at the altitude, adding that a ground rescue team would be prepared to retrieve the two men.

He said it was not known if either of them was alive or dead. Meanwhile, 12 Pakistanis, one Russian and two Nepalese climbers summited Broad Peak (8,051m) on Saturday morning in a short window with good weather. During summit pushes at K2 and Gasherbrum-I, climbers reached a decisive stage days before the end of climbing season at the Karakoram range, aiming to reach the summits on Sunday.

More than 2,000 local and foreign mountaineers are attempting to scale mountains in Gilgit-Baltistan this year, including eight-thousanders (mountains exceeding 8,000m in height) K2, Broad Peak, Gasherbrum-I, Gasherbrum-II and Nanga Parbat.

According to Karakoram Expeditions, led by renowned climber Mirza Ali, nine members of the expedition Ahmed Baig, Arshad Karim, Rizwan Dad, Waqar Ali, Daulat Muhammad, Afreen Shah, Zaman Karim from Shimshal Valley of Gilgit-Baltistan, Murad Ali from Balochistan and Iya Pershina from Russia summited Broad peak at 7:15am. “We are excited to announce that Team Karakorum Expeditions has successfully summited Broad Peak and fixed ropes all the way to the summit this morning! Braving waist-deep snow, our team worked tirelessly through challenging conditions all night long,” the company posted on its Facebook page.

The post adds that the team departed from Camp 2 at 5:30am and continued from Camp 3 at 11am, “ploughing through deep snow and navigating new exposed crevasses”.

Mirza, whose sister is renowned mountaineer Samina Baig, expressed his pride: “I am overjoyed by the courage and tenacity of my team. Their ability to navigate through waist-deep snow and install fixed ropes all the way to the summit exemplifies the spirit of mountaineering.” Another four-member expedition from the Pakistani Broadboy Adventures team, led by Shehroze Kashif – the youngest Pakistani climber to summit K2 – successfully scaled Broad Peak at 11:30am, raising the green flag high. In a statement, Kashif said the challenging expedition had a narrow window but was worth every effort. The summiteers included Aamar Butt, a resident of the USA; Anum Uzair from Lahore and Ali Akbar and Ali, both from GB’s Houshe.