World-renowned mountaineer Nirmal Purja among 10 killed in Pakistan avalanche
By Sophia Saifi, Sana Noor Haq, Laura Sharman, CNN
(CNN) — Rescuers have located the body of famed Nepalese mountaineer Nirmal Purja who died alongside nine others after an avalanche struck his expedition in Pakistan last week.
Purja, who made history over the years by climbing some of the world’s highest peaks, was part of an expedition up the 8,047-meter-tall Broad Peak in northern Pakistan when tragedy struck.
“His legacy will live on in the countless lives he changed and the people he inspired to climb their own mountains,” said an Instagram post published Saturday by the Nimsdai Foundation which he founded in 2022.
Purja, 43, was among 10 mountaineers from multiple nations who went missing last Thursday after the avalanche in the Karakoram mountain range.
Pakistani authorities have now confirmed all 10 were killed.
Rescuers have located Purja’s body, but they are yet to be brought back to base camp, the Alpine Club of Pakistan said Sunday.
“The conditions are very dangerous,” rescuer Sirbaz Khan told CNN on Monday. “Two or three avalanches have come every day as we look for the bodies.”
He added, “At one point I cried ‘look out’ to my colleague. We saw one dead body being pushed away.”
“Yesterday, eight sherpas helped us to try to reach Nims’ (Purja’s) body – at the point where it is stuck – but it is very risky,” Kahn said.
Like Purja, Khan is a renowned mountaineer –– the first Pakistani to summit all 14 peaks above 8,000 meters (26,300 feet) without supplementary oxygen. This rescue mission is his 20th time climbing Broad Peak.
Speaking through tears from its perilous slopes, Khan, from Hunza, expressed his grief after learning that his neighbor and student was among the dead.
The only way to retrieve the remaining climbers safely, he believes, is via a “long line” – a rope dropped from a helicopter without landing.
“My heart is not accepting all of this loss,” Purja said.
“We are using drones and helicopters to access the mountain. We are doing out best, and we also don’t want to lose more lives in the process.
“Volunteers have come from the local community providing food at the base camp, located at the end point of the avalanche. I’m very happy to be surrounded by such kind and generous people from Pakistan.”
At least five people have been confirmed dead, including Purja, the Omani climber Nadhira Al Harthy, the Nepali climber Pur Bahadur Gurung “Yukta” and the US climber Sarah Mallory Geis.
Nima Sherpa was named on Sunday as the fifth person killed, in an Instagram post from Purja’s foundation. “No words can ease the pain of this unimaginable loss,” the post added. No nationality was given, however Sherpa would usually indicate Nepali nationality or lineage.
Sherpas and expedition teams joined the rescue operation last weekend after a temporary suspension due to “inclement weather.”
Lying at the Himalaya’s western edge, Pakistan’s Karakoram range is notorious for its unpredictable weather, with rockslides and avalanches commonplace and a slim summer climbing season.
It is home to four peaks over 26,000 feet (so called 8,000ers) — including K2, Broad Peak’s neighbor and the world’s second highest, at 28,251 feet.
The optimal weather window for summiting the peak is from July 15 to 30, making current conditions riskier, mountain photographer Tehsin Razi told CNN.
Razi survived an avalanche when climbing Broad Peak last July and described the challenging conditions.
“It was very scary. I was sitting at base camp and suddenly there was a huge blast and tons of snow powder came crashing down,” he said.
“I hid behind a huge rock and sat crouched in a ball with my hands over my head, to protect my head and any bones from falling objects.”
“Anybody climbing the Karakoram mountains is trained on how to keep safe in an avalanche, since they are very common in this area and at this altitude. But there is always a risk.”
Recovery efforts for the remaining climbers are ongoing.
On Saturday, emergency workers had raised concerns to CNN over the prospect of another avalanche falling and hampering the operation.
Purja, a former British army soldier, raised the profile of climbing on the world stage by repeatedly breaking records as a measure of endurance. In 2019, he made history by climbing all of the world’s 14 peaks over 8,000 meters (26,300 feet) – dubbed by NASA as the Eight Thousanders – in just over six months.
Kiani, who previously climbed with Purja, described him as “very fearless” and said that “he made the impossible happen.”
In an interview in 2019, Purja told CNN that he wanted to use his platform to honor the skills of Nepal’s Sherpa people. “Even though they were top climbers, they didn’t get the right recognition,” Purja said. “Hopefully, I thought I could uplift their names.”
Al Harthy, the Omani mountaineer who died on Thursday, also previously spoke to CNN, describing her ambition to climb one of the Eight Thousanders. She used her profile to empower other Muslim women and girls – including her 32 nieces – to take on endurance sports.
“Our faith … it makes you stand up again. It gives you strength, it gives you power,” Al Harthy said in 2021. “(My nieces) are very strong, and they stand up for their rights,” she added. “I always wake up in the morning and say, ‘Alhumdullilah, thank God I’m here.’”
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CNN’s Lex Harvey, Ross Adkin and Xiaoqian Lin contributed reporting.
