A search and rescue operation resumed on Saturday for at least six members of a 10-person climbing expedition on Broad Peak in Pakistan following an avalanche, according to officials familiar with the incident. Military helicopters supported the efforts as authorities worked to locate the missing climbers. The team had lost contact with their base camp the previous day after the avalanche struck the mountain during their ascent.
Authorities had recovered four bodies by the time search operations resumed. One of the recovered individuals, Omani climber Nathira Ahmed, was being transported to Islamabad, while the bodies of American climber Mallory Geis and Nepalese climber Bahadur Gurung remained at a hospital in Skardu, the primary city in the Gilgit-Baltistan region of northern Pakistan.
The expedition consisted of ten climbers with diverse backgrounds, including five Nepalese mountaineers, one climber from Oman, one from the United States, one from China identified as Wang, and a Pakistani guide named Sohail Sakhi. The team was led by Nirmal Purja, a Nepal-born mountaineer formerly of the British Army who gained recognition for summiting the world’s 14 highest peaks in 189 days in 2019, an accomplishment documented in a Netflix production. The expedition was organized under Moving Mountains, a Pakistan-based travel company.
For Geis, the climb represented a first attempt at scaling an 8,000-meter peak in Pakistan. Sakhi, a guide with the company and professional geographer and high-altitude photographer, had planned this as his final major mountaineering expedition. Officials acknowledged that hopes were diminishing but indicated rescue efforts would persist.
Avalanches, falling ice and rock, extreme altitude, and unpredictable weather patterns create hazardous conditions that contribute to frequent accidents during climbing expeditions in northern Pakistan.
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