Their expedition organizer and the Pakistan Alpine Club said Saturday that three climbers went missing while trying to climb the summit of K2, the second highest mountain in the world and one of the most dangerous.
Also read: A fatal climber falls off during expedition on K2
The three climbers – John Snorri (Iceland), Juan Pablo Mohr (Chile) and Muhammad Ali Sadbara (Pakistan) – lost contact with the mission base camp on Friday.
“It’s now more than 30 hours since we heard (at base camp) from John Snorri, Ali Sadbara and Juan Pablo Mohr, as none of their GPS signals seem to be working,” said Chang Dawa. Sherpa, the tour operator, is on the current situation.
A Pakistani military helicopter went to search for the three climbers. He added, “Unfortunately, they cannot discover anything, and conditions on the mountain are deteriorating even in al-Qaeda camp.”
Karrar Heydari, secretary of the Pakistan Alpine Club, confirmed to AFP that the three climbers were missing.
On Friday, a Bulgarian climber suffered a fatal fall on a K2. Atanas Skatov, 42, fell when changing ropes while he was descending on base camp, according to Seven Summit Treks, which organized the campaign.
He is the second person to lose his life in recent weeks while attempting to climb K2, which peaks at 8,611 meters.
Last month, 49-year-old Spanish mountaineer Serge Mingut was killed in K2 after also falling down on his way back to base camp.
There are many dangers involved in this mountain, as more than 80 people were killed, against the 450 who succeeded in climbing it.
In January, ten Nepalese climbers successfully completed the first K2 winter climb.
Winter conditions on the K2 highway are appalling, with winds reaching 200 km / h and temperatures occasionally dropping as low as -60 ° C. This explains why this mountain is less frequent than Mount Everest, which thousands of climbers of all ages have managed to climb.
But due to the border closures due to the pandemic in particular, there are a few other prestigious megaliths accessible at the moment and no fewer than four gripping parties totaling 60 climbers gathered this winter on K2.