No sign of missing K2 mountaineers as inclement weather stalls resuce

SKARDU: The information minister for Gilgit Fateh Ullah Khan said Tuesday that due to inclement weather for the fourth straight day in the region the rescue operation to locate K2 winter climbers could not produce any results, ARY News reported.

Fateh ullah Khan said the operation could not take place due to extreme weather conditions and shared the government has requested Pakistan Air Force’s assistance in advanced cameras and avionics to locate and recover the three mountaineers who went on winter ascent expedition.

Since the mountains are covered in dense clouds and snow the helicopters couldn’t fly, Khan said, and added that K2 remained under the intense concentration of winds from North and South directions.

It may be noted that mountaineers including Pakistani Muhammad Ali Sadpara, John Snorri from Iceland, and JP Mohr from Chile have been missing since it was last heard from them four days back.

Yesterday the Director-General of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Maj Gen Babar Iftikhar said Muhammad Ali Sadpara, who went missing while attempting a K2 winter summit along with two foreign climbers, is “our national hero.”

“Three mountaineers went missing while attempting to summit K2,” he said, adding a rescue operation is underway to trace them. He maintained scaling the world’s second-highest mountain is extremely difficult.

“Unfortunately, none of them have been traced as yet,” the head of the military’s media wing said.

They were on the mission to scale K2 but lost contact after they started their push for the K2 summit from camp 3 at midnight between Thursday and Friday.