Two helicopters are on their way to Pakistan’s 8,047-metre Broad Peak, where 10 people, including famous climber Nirmal Purja, are missing after an avalanche struck the mountain on Thursday. Meanwhile, a ground search party has located four bodies at the bottom of the slide, though only two have been formally identified so far.
The avalanche struck just before 9:30 am local time on Thursday, catching 10 summit-bound climbers at 6,600 metres. Their InReach trackers showed a rapid fall of hundreds of metres, with some coming to rest almost at Base Camp. For reasons that remain unclear, the call for an aerial rescue was only made hours after the incident.
“Karakorum Expeditions team member Waqar Ali, together with Sona Sherpa and two Pakistani climbers, has recovered four bodies from the base of the avalanche, opposite Broad Peak Base Camp, where the victims were carried down,” the Hunza-based outfitter Karakorum Expeditions reported on Friday morning.
So far, the Alpine Club of Pakistan has confirmed the identities of two of the deceased climbers. They are Nadhira Al Harthy of Oman and Pur Bahadur Gurung, known as Yukta, of Nepal. Alharthy had become the first Omani woman to summit Everest in 2019 and was involved in climbing the 14 8,000-metre peaks. She had also summited K2 and Manaslu, among other peaks, and was on Broad Peak with Seven Summit Treks.
Pur Bahadur Gurung was one of the guides working for Nirmal Purja’s EliteExped and probably accompanied Purja on his latest record pursuit. It appears there were no clients with EliteExped on this occasion.
The list of missing climbers includes some of the best-known local guides in Nepal and Pakistan, as well as their clients. Notably, Nirmal Purja, aka Nims Dai, has been attempting to become the first person to climb the 14 8,000-metre peaks three times, and also to climb all 14 twice without bottled oxygen. Purja’s GPS tracker still appears to be showing movement, according to his business partner Mingma Gyabu Sherpa, though the situation has not yet been independently confirmed.
Also on the mountain was Sohail Sakhi of Pakistan, an advocate of no-O2 climbing and a mentor for many Pakistani climbers. Sakhi had previously summited all the 8,000-metre peaks in his country. On this occasion, he was using bottled oxygen while guiding American Mallory Geis, who was on her first 8,000-metre experience after climbing some 6,000-metre peaks in Nepal, one of them guided by Sakhi.
Also missing are Wang Zhong of China, and Nepalese Nima Sherpa, Nawang Thindu Sherpa, Gyalu Sherpa, and Kili “Kilu” Pemba Sherpa, one of the most experienced climbers with the Imagine Nepal team. He was also one of the famous Nepalese team that, together with Nirmal Purja, completed the first winter ascent of K2 in 2021.
Karakorum Expeditions wrote that two of its members were also caught in the slide and are still out of contact. “The home team monitoring one of our climbers’ InReach devices has reported a slight movement signal, giving us hope,” the company noted.
Two helicopters left for Broad Peak at around 8 am Pakistan time on Friday. They are carrying well-known local climbers Sirbaz Khan and Sherzad Karim, who will help conduct an aerial search for the climbers still missing. However, bad weather has been a persistent challenge, with high winds and humidity complicating rescue efforts.
David Klein of Hungary and Ian Overton of the U.S., who had also planned to climb Broad Peak, are safely back in Skardu. They didn’t like the weather forecast and left on July 25. “There had been a massive wind storm the night of July 18 with a lot of blowing snow,” Overton told ExplorersWeb. “The benches from Camp 3 to Camp 2 had considerable snow/wind crust and were fairly ‘punchy’. Everything below Camp 2 was unconsolidated and melting out quickly. Lots of loose rock and failing ice.”
Overton added: “After David Klein’s push and return to Base Camp, we monitored the weather. Winds were too high, and humidity was elevated throughout the region, indicating likely fresh snow through the 29th.”
The Alpine Club of Pakistan said it received “deeply concerning reports” of the avalanche and is in close contact with government authorities and relevant agencies to coordinate search and rescue operations. “Every possible effort is being made to ensure that helicopter support and all available rescue resources are mobilised at the earliest opportunity, subject to weather and operational conditions,” the club said in a statement.
Major General Irfan Arshad Khan, president of the club, and its senior leadership are coordinating with all stakeholders involved in the rescue effort. The club said it was closely monitoring the situation as search operations continue.
Broad Peak, the world’s 12th highest mountain, has a history of avalanches and fatalities. In 2013, five climbers died on the mountain, and in 2022, Pakistani climber Sharif Sadpara died after falling through a soft spot on the summit ridge cornice. The current incident has sent shockwaves through the international climbing community, with many expressing concern for the missing climbers and their families.
