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Renowned mountaineer Nirmal Purja and his nine climbing companions were killed by an avalanche in Pakistan during an ascent of one of the world's highest mountains. The news was confirmed by his expedition company on Saturday, as rescuers tackled treacherous conditions to recover their bodies.
The avalanche struck on Thursday, cutting off contact with the international expedition led by Purja, a 43-year-old British-Nepali climber, on Broad Peak in northern Pakistan.
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"It is with profound sadness and immense heartbreak that we confirm that Nirmal Purja tragically lost his life following the avalanche on Broad Peak," Purja's company Elite Expeditions said on social media, adding that other members of the expedition also did not survive.
The remains recovered so far included an American woman, an Omani woman, and a Nepali man, the regional government said. Rana Sanaullah, the Pakistani prime minister's advisor for provincial coordination, said four bodies had been recovered so far and the search was continuing despite adverse weather.
The avalanche struck while the mountaineers were attempting to summit Broad Peak, 8.047 meters (26.400 feet), at an altitude of around 6,600 meters. The expedition comprised 10 people: Purja, five Nepalis, a Pakistani, an Omani, an American, and a climber from China.
"Data from their tracking devices indicates that they were thrown hundreds of meters down the mountainside," Naila Kiani, from Pakistan's Alpine Club, told Le Monde newspaper.
Purja, who served with Britain's Brigade of Gurkhas before joining the Special Boat Squadron of the Royal Marines, broke multiple climbing records since becoming a full-time mountaineer. He had climbed all 14 "eight-thousanders," or peaks above 8,000 meters, in six months and six days between April and October 2019, setting a record.
He had written on social media platform X this week that he was close to becoming the first person to climb all 14 of these "super peaks" twice without oxygen.
Nepal's Prime Minister Balendra Shah offered his condolences over the deaths, saying they had "shocked us. "Italian mountaineer Reinhold Messner, who made the first solo ascent of Everest, also paid tribute to Purja on Instagram.
Broad Peak is the world's 12th highest mountain, located in the Karakoram range in northern Pakistan, and is regarded as one of the toughest and most technical climbs of all the 8,000-meter-plus ascents.
It was first summited in 1957 by an Austrian team.
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