2 alpinists missing on ‘Killer Mountain’

Islamabad, June 27: Two alpinists, a Spaniard and an Argentinian, have gone missing while attempting to summit a peak in northern Pakistan nicknamed “Killer Mountain”, mountaineering experts said on Tuesday.

“Alberto Zerain, a Spanish alpinist, and Mariano Galvan, an Argentinian national, went missing while trying to climb Nanga Parbat,” the world’s ninth highest mountain, Alpine Club of Pakistan spokesman Karrar Haidri said.

Muhammad Iqbal, owner of Summit Karakorum, the tour operating company that had arranged the climb, said the duo had left base camp on June 19 but were holed up in their tent for three days at an altitude of 6,100 metres due to bad weather.

“They pushed for the summit again as the weather got better but lost contact with our staff at base camp on Friday,” he said.

“Our sherpas on the mountain estimate them to be somewhere above 7,000 metres which makes it impossible for them to climb and search so we have requested a search and rescue helicopter, which will start either today or tomorrow depending on weather conditions,” he added.

At 8,125 metres, Nanga Parbat earned its grisly nickname after more than 30 climbers died trying to conquer it.