Army helicopter airlifts bodies of Nirmal Purja, four other climbers to Skardu

The bodies of five international climbers, including renowned British-Nepali mountaineer Nirmal Purja, were flown to Skardu by a Pakistan Army helicopter on Thursday after one of the most challenging recovery operations on Broad Peak, as rescuers continued searching for the two remaining missing climbers.

The July 30 avalanche struck a 10-member international expedition led by 43-year-old British-Nepali climber Nirmal Purja as the team ascended from Camp 2 to Camp 3 on Broad Peak, the world’s 12th-highest mountain. The disaster killed all 10 climbers from Nepal, the United Kingdom, China, the United States, Oman and Pakistan after contact with the team was lost.

In a statement, the Alpine Club of Pakistan (ACP) said the bodies of Purja, Wang Zhong, Nima Sherpa, Gyalu Sherpa and Killi Pemba “Kilu” Sherpa had been transported by helicopter to the Combined Military Hospital (CMH) in Skardu following “one of the most technically demanding recovery operations on Broad Peak”.

The ACP said the bodies would be transferred to Islamabad after the completion of the required formalities.

“With deepest condolences to the families of the deceased,” the club added, confirming that Pakistani climber Sohail Sakhi and climber Mallory Geis remained missing, while the body of Nawang Thindu Sherpa had not yet been recovered.

The latest recovery brought the number of bodies retrieved from the avalanche site to eight, leaving two climbers still unaccounted for as search efforts continued despite difficult weather conditions. Rescue teams comprising the Pakistan Army, local rescuers and other relevant authorities remained engaged in the operation.

The avalanche struck Broad Peak on July 30, severing contact with a 10-member international expedition led by the 43-year-old Purja, whose company later confirmed that there were no survivors.

Read: Rescue team reaches Broad Peak base camp with body of renowned climber Nirmal Purja killed in avalanche

On Wednesday, the ACP had announced that the bodies of Purja, Wang Zhong, Nima Sherpa and Kilu Sherpa had been successfully recovered after what it described as an “exceptionally challenging and technically demanding recovery operation” and transported to the mountain’s base camp.

The remains of three other members of the expedition — an American woman, an Omani woman and a Nepali climber — had already been airlifted from the mountain to Skardu earlier this week.

The tragedy sent shockwaves through the global mountaineering community. The president of Nepal’s National Mountain Guide Association, Tul Singh Gurung, said the climbing world had “lost a generation of accomplished mountaineers”.

Broad Peak, the world’s 12th-highest mountain at 8,051 metres, is located in Pakistan’s Karakoram range and is widely regarded as one of the most technically demanding of the world’s 8,000-metre peaks. It was first summited in 1957 by an Austrian expedition.