Missing climbers: K2 search continues despite worsening weather

SKARDU: The families of three missing climbers from Iceland, Chile and Pakistan have made the difficult decision to proceed with their rescue mission after 72 gruelling hours of non-stop intensive search-and-rescue efforts came to a halt due to bad weather, hoping that they can be resumed in the shortest possible timeframe, said a press release.

Jon Snorri, Ali Sadpara and Juan Pablo Mohr had joined forces to make a summit bid on K2 – the last eight-thousand-meter peak unclimbed in winter until a team of 10 Nepali summited earlier this year. Rao Ahmad, Ali Sadpara’s long-time friend and Sajid Sadpara along with British-American climber, Vanessa O’Brien, who also serves as Pakistan’s Goodwill Ambassador and summited K2 with Jon Snorri, have formed a virtual base camp to ensure a thorough search-and-rescue effort.

While appreciating the role of Pakistan Army in search and rescue operation Vanessa said. “We are grateful for the six helicopter flights by the Pakistan Army pilots, who pushed the upper limits during each of these search flights. None of this would have been possible without the support and assistance of the Chief of General Staff and the Pakistan Army. Lt-Col (R) Hassan bin Aftab, Director of Operations at Pakistan Analytica, coordinated overall logistics for the search-and-rescue attempts and served as the point person for our families, he went on to say.

“Our respective ambassadors were extremely generous with their time, and we are appreciative of their assistance. Ashgar Porik, of Jasmine Tours and superb support on the ground from high-altitude porters including Imtiaz and Akbar, Fazal Ali and Jalal, he further said.