The Albany Gazette - Search resumes for missing climbers from Pakistan avalanche

The avalanche struck Thursday, cutting off contact with the ten-member international expedition led by renowned British-Nepali climber Nirmal Purja -- who is not among the remains recovered so far.

Those recovered -- flown by helicopter to hospital for formal identification -- included an American woman, an Omani woman, and a Nepali man, the regional government said in a statement released Friday night.

Police in the mountainous northern Gilgit-Baltistan region said in a statement that high-altitude porters and rescue teams had begun a second day of the operation Saturday after the search was paused due to difficult weather conditions on Friday.

Rescuers and military helicopters had been scouring the area, and teams had stayed at the base camp overnight, according to the regional government.

"The rescue team has reported that they have spotted a few (more) dead bodies of the climbers through drone footage," the statement said.

"The rescue operation is being conducted under extremely challenging terrain and high-altitude weather conditions by the Pakistani army in coordination with local high-altitude climbers and rescuers," it added.

- Powerful avalanche -

The avalanche struck while the mountaineers were on a mission to summit Broad Peak (8,047 metres, 26,400 feet) on Thursday while the team were ascending at an altitude of around 6,600 metres, according to regional authorities.

The expedition comprised 10 people -- including Purja, five Nepalis, a Pakistani, an Omani, an American, and a climber from China.

The team were last in contact on Thursday morning, the official statement said, with reports emerging that evening of the powerful avalanche.

"Data from their tracking devices indicates that they were thrown hundreds of metres down the mountainside," Naila Kiani, from Pakistan's Alpine Club, told Le Monde newspaper.

- Super peaks -

Purja, 43, had written on X this week that he was close to becoming the first person to climb all 14 "super peaks" twice without oxygen.

"Broad Peak, I ask for nothing but safe passage up and back down," he wrote.

Purja, who served with Britain's Brigade of Gurkhas before joining the Special Boat Squadron of the Royal Marines, has broken multiple climbing records since becoming a full-time mountaineer and tour guide.

He climbed all 14 "eight-thousanders" (peaks above 8,000 metres) in six months and six days between April and October 2019 -- then a record.

Broad Peak is the world's 12th highest mountain, located in the Karakoram range in northern Pakistan, and is regarded as one of the toughest and most technical climbs of all the 8,000-metre-plus ascents.

It was first summited in 1957 by an Austrian team.

(B.Ramirez--TAG)