Local mountaineer Iftikhar Hussain dies as 4 caught in K2 avalanche
Local mountaineer Iftikhar Hussain lost his life while a foreign climber sustained injuries when their four-member international expedition team was caught in an avalanche that struck the K2 peak on Friday.
K2, standing at 8,611 metres above sea level, is the second-highest peak in the world, attracting a host of local and foreign tourists. Last summer, Gilgit-Baltistan authorities issued a total of 175 permits to climbers aspiring to conquer the mountain, despite the treacherous climb and harsh weather conditions.
The senior vice president of the Alpine Club of Pakistan (ACP), Karrar Haidri, told Dawn.com that at approximately 12:30pm on Friday, an avalanche struck Camp 1 on K2, located about 500m above the base camp. Four climbers were caught in the avalanche.
“A foreign climber sustained minor injuries, while two others successfully returned to the Advance Base Camp,: Haidri said in a statement. However, high-altitude porter Iftikhar Hussain from Sadpara in Skardu lost his life in the incident.
Hussain’s body has since been recovered and brought down to the base camp, the ACP official added.
The other climbers were Dawa Finjo Sherpa and Dawa Geljen Sherpa from Nepal, and high-altitude porter Niaz Ali from Skardu. The international team was returning from Camp 2 during their rotation for the summit at the time of the incident.
The expedition outfitter submitted a formal request to ACP President Major General Irfan Arshad and Askari Aviation for a helicopter operation to repatriate the deceased following the incident.
The request was approved by the army’s General Headquarters on humanitarian grounds. According to Haidri, the body will be airlifted by the Army Aviation and transported to Sadpara in Skardu today.
Earlier this month, a tourist from the Czech Republic, Klára Kolouchová, died after falling into a ravine at the Nanga Parbat base camp in GB.
Kolouchová, 46, was part of a multinational expedition attempting to summit the mountain. Her health reportedly deteriorated at Camp 4, forcing her to abort the climb and begin her descent with Nepali Sherpa Taraman Tamang.