Renowned mountaineer Nirmal Purja has been confirmed dead in an avalanche accident in Pakistan, his climbing company Elite Expeditions said in a social media post on Saturday.
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The avalanche struck on Thursday, cutting off contact with the international expedition led by 43-year-old British-Nepali climber Purja on Broad Peak in northern Pakistan.
“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.
“We have also received confirmation that other members of the expedition sadly did not survive,” it added.
The remains recovered so far, flown by helicopter to a hospital for formal identification, included an American woman, an Omani woman and a Nepali man, the regional government said in a statement released on Friday night.
Lost contact since Thursday
The team lost contact with their base camp Thursday after an avalanche struck Broad Peak as they attempted to scale the mountain, said Karrar Haidri, vice president of the Alpine Club of Pakistan on Friday.
Nepal’s Prime Minister Balendra Shah offered his condolences over the “tragic” deaths of Purja and the other climbers, which he said “has shocked us”.
“The physical journey of all the deceased climbers… has been interrupted, but the history of their courage, dedication, and contributions will always remain inspiring,” Shah said in a statement on social media.
Police in the mountainous northern Gilgit-Baltistan region said in a statement that high-altitude porters and rescue teams were carrying out a second day of the operation on Saturday after the search was paused due to difficult weather conditions a day earlier.
Rescuers and military helicopters had been scouring the area and teams stayed at the base camp overnight, according to the regional government.
“The rescue operation is being conducted under extremely challenging terrain and high-altitude weather conditions by the Pakistani army in coordination with local high-altitude climbers and rescuers,” it said.
Powerful avalanche
The avalanche struck while the mountaineers were on a mission to summit Broad Peak 8,047 metres on Thursday and while the team was ascending at an altitude of around 6,600 metres, according to regional authorities.
The expedition comprised 10 people, including 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 metres down the mountainside,” Naila Kiani, from Pakistan’s Alpine Club, told Le Monde newspaper.
Fida Ali, a climber in the area who worked closely with Purja since 2023, said their focus for the climbing season was summiting Broad Peak, but they had first tackled another mountain, G2, in harsh weather.
Ali also joined the expedition to Broad Peak in its initial stages but returned early to accompany a Russian climber who was feeling the effects of exhaustion – narrowly avoiding the fatal avalanche.
“I wanted to go with him (Purja) but couldn’t and came back with her. I was part of the team but survived,” he said.
Record high peaks climb
Purja had written on X this week that he was close to becoming the first person to climb all 14 “super peaks” twice without oxygen.
“Broad Peak, I ask for nothing but safe passage up and back down,” he wrote.
He had climbed all 14 “eight-thousanders” (peaks above 8,000 metres) in six months and six days between April and October 2019, then a record.
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-metre-plus ascents.