Rescue efforts are underway to find a group of missing climbers, including world-renowned mountaineer Nirmal Purja, following an avalanche on a mountain in Pakistan, the Alpine Club of Pakistan said. The avalanche struck around midday Thursday on 8,047-meter-tall Broad Peak.
Missing Climbers
The group of 10 climbers, including one American, are believed to have been on Broad Peak when the avalanche hit. Four bodies have been recovered by ground teams so far, but they have not been identified. The location of four climbers is showing up on GPS, according to Alpine Club general secretary Ayaz Ahmed Shigri.
Purja, also known as “Nims,” made history in 2019, climbing all of the world’s 14 peaks over 8,000 meters in just over six months. His feat was chronicled in the hit Netflix documentary “14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible.”
Purja was a soldier for 16 years with the British Army, in the Brigade of Gurkhas and later the Special Boat Service, an elite unit of the U.K.’s Royal Navy. His mountaineering career began when he trekked to Everest Base Camp in 2012, an experience that “fired his passion and ambition for the mountains,” according to the website of his foundation, Nimsdai, which supports mountain communities in Nepal.
A spokesperson for Nimsdai told CNN it is in contact with authorities and its “immediate priority is the safety and wellbeing of everyone involved.”
Original reporting: 40/29 / KHBS (NW Arkansas) — read the source article.
