One station is scheduled to return to service next week, after 'all necessary maintenance and testing jobs have been completed'
Three mountaineers who went missing earlier this month while attempting to scale the world’s second-highest mountain, K2, should now be considered dead, Pakistani officials said Thursday.
The announcement brings closure to a dramatic snowbound rescue effort 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.
Search efforts for the milling climbers, famous Pakistani mountaineer Ali Sadpara as well as Jon Snorri of Iceland and Juan Pablo Mohr of Chile, were called off last week.
Sadpara’s son, Sajid speaking at a news conference alongside officials, told reporters in the northern town of Skardu that he was grateful authorities did their best to try to find the group, which went missing on February 5.
“I believe they scaled it but had an accident while coming down,” younger Sadpara said, adding that he himself had hoped to join the group but couldn’t because his oxygen tanks malfunctioned.
Karrar Haidri of the Pakistan Alpine Club told The Associated Press that the climbers’ death was a great loss.
“We ae 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 three climbers lost contact with their base camp while attempting their ascent of the 8,611-meter (28,250-foot) high K2 — sometimes referred to as “killer mountain.”
In winter, winds on K2 can blow at more than 200 kph (125 mph) and temperatures can drop to minus 60 degrees Celsius (minus 76 Fahrenheit). In one of the deadliest mountaineering accidents ever, 11 climbers died in a single day trying to scale K2 in 2008.
One station is scheduled to return to service next week, after 'all necessary maintenance and testing jobs have been completed'
Individuals that are physically active tend to ignore mild pain, considering it a normal part of exercise or sports
The campus is set to become the largest dedicated hub for AI and technology companies in the Middle East and North Africa
Dravid's tenure comes to an end after the T20 World Cup 2024 in the USA and West Indies
Stand-in skipper Jitesh believes the absence of key England players will not affect his side's morale on Sunday
Netanyahu came under personal attack from Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for failing to rule out an Israeli government in Gaza after the war
The fund is designed to finance the production of artistic and creative works in film, music, performances, and video games
Fico has been in hospital since Wednesday when a lone gunman shot him four times, including in the abdomen