The families of three missing climbers from Iceland, Chile and Pakistan have decided to proceed with their rescue mission after 72 gruelling hours of nonstop intensive search-and-rescue efforts came to a halt due to bad weather.
Mountaineers Jon Snorri, Ali Sadpara and Juan Pablo Mohr had joined forces to make a summit bid on K2 – the last 8,000 metre peak unclimbed in winter until a team of 10 Nepali summited earlier this year.
Rao Ahmad, Ali Sadpara’s long-time friend and Sajid Sadpara, Ali Sadpara’s son, along with British-American climber, Vanessa O’Brien, who also serves as Pakistan’s Goodwill Ambassador and summited K2 with Snorri, have formed a virtual base camp to ensure a thorough search-and-rescue effort.
O’Brien released a statement on behalf of the families of John and Pablo, thanking everyone who expressed interest in their climb and concern for their wellbeing.
Those who prayed for their safety and offered ideas and thoughts on the use of drones and search locations, we heard you and appreciate the care, concern and compassion you showed, the statement read.
The families have requested the Pakistan government continue to provide search and rescue support, weather permitting.
Gilgit Baltistan’s Home Secretary Muhammad Ali Randhawa shared pictures taken of the K2 on the Pakistan Army Aviation Helicopters during the third day of the search operation.
Earlier, Randhawa had tweeted saying that the third-day helicopter search mission by Pakistan Army aviation began at 9:30am.
The secretary had shared the update once the helicopters had reached the basecamp.
“Dawa Sherpa of Seven Summit Treks will again guide the helicopters at K2 where to see, possible targeted areas to spot the missing bodies,” said the secretary. He had also warned that the weather was “building up today”.
Separately in a Facebook post, Sherpa shared the details of the search operation.
“Today we were able to make search flights all over 7000m by two army helicopters with the help of the Army Aviation 5 squadron,” said Sherpa.
