Lahore | The body of veteran Nepalese-British mountaineer Nirmal Purja was found on Sunday, three days after he and nine fellow climbers were swept away in an avalanche on Broad Peak, located in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir’s Gilgit-Baltistan.
The Alpine Club of Pakistan (ACP) said the 43-year-old mountaineer’s body was found at an altitude of around 5,700 metres.
So far, the bodies of five climbers have been recovered, and efforts are underway to locate the remaining five, it said.
"The ground rescue team has reached Nirmal Purja ‘Nims Dai’ at approximately 5,700m on Broad Peak, where three additional bodies have also been sighted, though their identities remain unconfirmed,” the ACP said.
The ground team will bring the bodies down to the Japanese camp, it said, adding that recovery efforts continue under extremely difficult terrain conditions.
The ACP said the mountain’s terrain, risk of avalanches and steep slopes are posing challenges in rescue efforts as helicopters could not be employed due to the weather conditions.
Purja and the other climbers -- five from Nepal, one Pakistani, one Omani, one American and one Chinese -- were on Thursday swept away by the avalanche that struck Broad Peak, located in the Karakoram range near K2.
It is the world's 12th-highest mountain and is considered one of the most challenging peaks to climb.
On Saturday, Purja's expedition enterprise -- Elite Exped -- announced that all members of the group had died.
Four of the ten bodies were recovered on Friday, three of them identified as Oman's Nadhira Ahmed Abdullah Al Harthy, Nepal's Pur Bahadur Gurung and American Mallory Geis, according to ACP President Major General Irfan Arshad. The bodies were airlifted to Skardu, a city in Gilgit-Baltistan.
Purja had an illustrious mountaineering career. He had successfully climbed all 14 peaks above 8,000 metres around the world in just six months and six days, setting a new record in 2019. He was about to complete his mission of climbing all 14 eight-thousanders twice after completing Broad Peak.
