The body of local mountaineer Iftikhar Hussain who lost his life when his four-member international expedition team was caught in an avalanche on the K2 peak was brought to his hometown of Gilgit-Baltistan’s Skardu on Saturday, officials said.
K2, standing at 8,611 metres above sea level, is the second-highest peak in the world, attracting a host of local and foreign tourists. Last summer, GB authorities issued a total of 175 permits to climbers aspiring to conquer the mountain, despite the treacherous climb and harsh weather conditions.
The senior vice president of the Alpine Club of Pakistan (ACP), Karrar Haidri, told Dawn.com that at approximately 12:30pm on Friday, an avalanche struck Camp 1 on K2, located about 500m above the base camp. Four climbers were caught in the avalanche.
“A foreign climber sustained minor injuries, while two others successfully returned to the Advance Base Camp,” Haidri said in a statement. However, high-altitude porter Iftikhar Hussain from Sadpara in Skardu lost his life in the incident.
The other climbers were Dawa Finjo Sherpa and Dawa Geljen Sherpa from Nepal, and high-altitude porter Niaz Ali from Skardu. The international team was returning from Camp 2 during their rotation for the summit at the time of the incident.
Tour operator Syed Anwar confirmed to Dawn.com that the deceased mountaineer’s body and the injured Nepali climber were brought from the K2 base camp to Skardu by Army Aviation helicopters on Saturday.
Hussain’s body was handed over to his family for burial, he added. The injured climber was in stable condition and undergoing treatment at a government hospital in Skardu.
Two helicopters of the Pakistan Army Aviation Corps took part in the operation, Anwar said.
The expedition outfitter submitted a formal request to ACP President Major General Irfan Arshad and Askari Aviation for a helicopter operation to repatriate the deceased following the incident.
The request was approved by the army’s General Headquarters on humanitarian grounds. According to Haidri, the body will be airlifted by the Army Aviation and transported to Sadpara in Skardu today.
Earlier this month, a tourist from the Czech Republic, Klára Kolouchová, died after falling into a ravine at the Nanga Parbat base camp in GB.
Kolouchová, 46, was part of a multinational expedition attempting to summit the mountain. Her health reportedly deteriorated at Camp 4, forcing her to abort the climb and begin her descent with Nepali Sherpa Taraman Tamang.