At least three mountaineers from a ten-person international expedition led by the known extreme sportsman Nirmal Purja have died following an avalanche in the Karakorum range, according to the Alpine Club Pakistan (ACP). Search and rescue teams mobilized on Saturday to reach the remaining members, who have been tracked via GPS signals near the 8,050-meter peak of Broad Peak in northern Pakistan.
Rescue Operations Underway at Broad Peak After Avalanche
The deadly avalanche struck the expedition at approximately 6,000 meters on Thursday, prompting the Alpine Club Pakistan to dispatch a team of ten Pakistani and Nepalese rescuers. Operations were temporarily halted overnight into Saturday before crews resumed their ascent to the accident site. Communication with the climbing team was lost on Thursday afternoon, according to the mountaineering organization.
On Friday evening, the Alpine Club Pakistan reported via social media that drone footage had captured the bodies of seven individuals in the snow. However, the organization emphasized that the condition and identities of those spotted by the drone could not immediately be confirmed.
International Expedition Details and Climber Roster
The high-altitude mission on Broad Peak—the world’s twelfth-highest mountain, situated on the border between Pakistan and China—brought together a diverse roster of international climbers. According to the Alpine Club Pakistan, the original ten-person party included six mountaineers from Nepal, one from Pakistan, one from China, a female climber from the United States, and a female climber from Oman.
The expedition was spearheaded by Nirmal Purja, a British-national mountaineer of Nepalese descent who gained renown for his record-breaking climbing feats. Purja famously summited all 14 of the world’s 8,050-meter peaks within seven months in 2019, a milestone later chronicled in the Netflix documentary feature 14 Peaks: Nothing is Impossible and detailed in his bestselling autobiography.
Purja’s Record Bid Interrupted in the Karakorum
Prior to the disaster, Purja had outlined ambitious goals for his latest journey in the mountains of northern Pakistan. Writing on the social media platform X on Monday, he explained that scaling Broad Peak was not part of his original itinerary. After successfully climbing Gasherbrum II, another major Pakistani eight-thousander, Broad Peak became the final objective required for him to complete a double ascent of all 14 peaks without supplemental oxygen.
The Karakorum region remains one of the world’s most challenging environments, drawing elite mountaineers each season despite extreme weather conditions and severe objective hazards like avalanches. Search teams continue to track the remaining expedition members via emergency positioning devices as recovery operations progress.
Next Steps in the Recovery Mission
Rescue coordinators announced that ground teams would push forward to access the stranded group and secure the accident area as weather permits. The Alpine Club Pakistan has not indicated any plans to release further updates at this time.
Worth a look
