Pakistan declares missing K2 mountain climbers dead
It is believed the group reached the summit but encountered a problem on the way down; search for the bodies will continue: Minister; nation has lost a brave, adventurous individual, says Sadpara’s son
Pakistani officials said three climbers missing on the K2 mountain had died, calling off an extraordinary rescue mission that had involved the military and international mountaineers since the group lost contact on Feb.5.
The announcement brings closure to a dramatic tragedy on one of the most dangerous mountains to climb in the world. K2 had never been scaled in winter until only last month, when a Nepalese team reached the peak.
Muhammad Ali Sadpara, 45, of Pakistan, John Snorri, 47, of Iceland, and Juan Pablo Mohr, 33, of Chile, were last seen just 300 metres short of the summit of K2, the world’s second-highest mountain. It is believed the group reached the summit but encountered a problem on the way down.
Search efforts for the missing climbers were called off last week amid bad weather. Clouds, strong winds and snow had made previous searchand-rescue operations too dangerous — for both mountaineers on foot as well as helicopters.
“So far we were searching and hoping to find them alive, but today we have officially declared them dead, so that will stop,” Raja Nasir Ali Khan, Minister for Tourism for Gilgi-tBaltistan, the northern region where the climbers went missing. The search for the bodies of the climbers will continue, Khan said.
The three were last seen by Sadpara’s son, 20-year-old Sajid, who had to turn around because of an oxygen supply malfunction.
Sajid speaking at a news conference alongside officials, told reporters in the northern town of Skardu on Thursday that he was grateful authorities had done their best to try to find the group, which went missing on Feb.5.
“I believe they scaled it but had an accident while coming down,” said the younger Sadpara, who had started the climb with his father but was forced to call it off and descend ater his oxygen tanks malfunctioned. He thanked the public for the support his family had received throughout the ordeal, saying it “gave an immense strength to me, to my sister, to my brothers and my mother.”
“My family and I have lost a kindhearted person and the Pakistani nation has lost a brave and great adventurous individual who was passionate about climbing,” Sajid said.
A statement from the families of Snorri and Mohr was also read out at the news conference, thanking Pakistan and its military for facilitating the search, reported Pakistan’s English-language Dawn newspaper.
“Based on the last known contact by John Snorri’s telephone, we are confident that all three men made it to the top of K2 and something happened on the descent,” said the statement. “Ali, John and Juan Pablo will live forever in our hearts.”
Pakistan’s Presidnet Arif Alvi tweeted his condolences to the families of the three mountaineers. Of the Pakistani climber, the president said he “battled nature with strength, fortitude and heroism.”
Karrar Haidri of the Pakistan Alpine Club told The Associated Press that the climbers’ death was a great loss. “We are very sad over the tragic demise of all the three climbers,” he said, adding that authorities had used helicopters and porters to try to recover the bodies but that even those efforts had failed.
The search operation included Pakistani military helicopters flying up and down the mountain, and an F-16 plane to photograph the ground to look for clues to where they might have taken shelter. Extremely low temperatures and gusting winds make it nearly impossible to survive on K2 for more than few days.
Tributes to Ali Sadpara poured in on Thursday, and his death was the top trend on Twiter in Pakistan. Pop singer Ali Zafar released a song as a tribute to the climber, who many credited with helping put Pakistani climbers on the world stage.
Abrar-ul-haq, another singer and politician, pledged to see through Sadpara’s dream of building a school in his village, located in a remote part of the country’s mountainous north not far from K2.
Two other climbers died trying to scale K2 this winter: Bulgarian Atanas Skatov and Spanish climber Sergio Mingote. And in January, American Alex Goldfarb-rumyantzev died on a mountain nearby.