GILGIT(National Times)- A ground team recovered the body of deceased Pakistani climber Asma Mushtaq from Gilgit-Baltistan’s Spantik Peak on Monday, almost 10 days after her death on the 7,027-metre-tall mountain.
The 34-year-old climber died on Aug 20 while descending from the mountain after suffering from high-altitude sickness.
Alpine Club of Pakistan (ACP) Secretary General Ayaz Shigri told Dawn that a five-member team, comprising high-altitude mountaineers from Shigar, had initiated a new recovery mission on Friday after earlier attempts remained unsuccessful due to heavy snowfall.
Earlier recovery missions were carried out by a six-member team, and the new team comprised Mehboob, Hussain Ali, Mazahir Hussain, Mehboob Ali, Muhammad Abidin and Abbas Ali, who led the operation, Shigri said. These volunteers were from Arundu in Shigar and carried out the operation as a self-funded mission, he added.
The rescue team began the operation at 3am today and found the body after around eight hours of searching, at around 11am.
The team recovered the body near Camp 3 of the peak, which is located at a height of approximately 6,250 metres, Shigri said. He added that the body would be brought back to Camp 2 today and Pakistan Army helicopters were expected to airlift Mushtaq’s body to Skardu after its arrival at the base camp later.
Shigri had told Dawn the day that Mushtaq died that she was part of a five-member Pakistani women’s expedition team that summited Spantik, which included climbers Zoni Aslam, Zaba Shigri, Shama and Sohana.
The mountaineer had successfully reached the 7,027m summit of Spantik and was in good health at the time, the ACP said in statements issued on Thursday. However, she developed a serious high-altitude medical emergency at an elevation of about 6,400m during her descent.
High-altitude sickness encompasses a range of pulmonary and cerebral conditions caused by hypoxia, or oxygen deprivation, due to rapid ascent and inadequate acclimatisation to high altitudes.
Climate change-induced shifts in weather patterns have worsened conditions on the peaks of the Karakoram Range in GB, creating serious difficulties for mountaineers.
Experts have also pointed out that bringing a body down from a high-altitude peak, particularly from above 6,000m, is an extremely risky and challenging task.
In many cases, bodies at such extreme altitudes are left and buried under the snow rather than being brought down. Sajid Sadpara buried the body of his father, renowned Pakistani mountaineer Ali Sadpara, at around 8,000m on K2 in 2021.
