ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: Third-day rescue operation has been launched by Pakistan Army with local mountaineers to find missing climbers Ali Sadpara (Pakistan), Snorri (Iceland), and Mohr (Chile) who have gone missing attempting to summit K-2 (28250 f).
According to Deputy Commissioner Shigar, helicopters are on the way to K-2 for the third consecutive day in search of missing mountaineers.
2×Heli are on the way starting search soon at K2. @HomeDeptGB @RandhawaAli #k2winterexpedition2021
— Deputy Commissioner, Shigar (@DeputyShigar) February 8, 2021
It may be mentioned that all contacts were lost with Muhammad Ali Sadpara, a skilled mountaineer who became the first Pakistani to summit K-2 (8,611 metres) in winter, reports DND News Agency.
The local high altitude climbers including Fazal Ali, Jalal (Shimshal), Imtiaz Hussain, Akbar Ali (Skardu), and Chhang Dawa Sherpa are part of the ground Search Operations as part of the rescue team.
His son Sajid Sadpara came back with two porters before reaching K-2 Summit but Ali Sadpara, John Snorri and Juan Pablo Mohr reached Summit and placed flags of their countries.
The rescue and search team of the Pakistan Army using helicopters started on Saturday making at K-2 in extremely challenging weather as high as 7,000 meters but unfortunately so far have not spotted anyone.
Pakistan Army helicopters had been circling all around as there had not been any contact with Ali Sadpara and his team members from the past 80 plus hours.
Our thoughts are with the brave climbers, Muhammad Ali Sadpara of #Pakistan, Juan Pablo Mohr of Chile, and John Snorri of Iceland, who are missing on #k2 We all hope for their safe return! #K2WinterSummit2021 #alisadpara pic.twitter.com/FS7RQaub2H
— U.S. Embassy Islamabad (@usembislamabad) February 8, 2021
Muhamad Ali Sadpara, born in 1976 is a Pakistani mountaineer and he was a member of the team which successfully achieved the first-ever winter summit on naked and killer mountain Nanga Parbat in 2016.
He has successfully climbed four eight-thousanders summits in a calendar year and a total of eight in his career.
Ali Sadpara and John Snorri reached the summit of K-2 on February 5, 2021, and shared photos of their success having flags of their countries in their hands. Since then, he lost contact with base-camp.
The scaling K-2 in winter started on January 24, 2021 and several attempts were made till February 3, 2021 but bad weather compelled the team to go back to Camp-4. They again attempted and reached the summit on February 5 morning.