AZAD KASHMIR (National Times) The Pakistan Army rescued three foreign mountaineers who got stranded while trying to scale K2, the world’s second-highest peak, Geo News reported on Wednesday.
The mountaineers, hailing from the Netherlands, Singapore, and Ecuador, had come to Pakistan to enter their names in history by surmounting the peak, also known as Savage Mountain due to difficulty of ascent and the second-highest fatality rate among the eight-thousanders.
“I came here to Pakistan to climb K2. I fell from the glacier and struck my arm. I was rescued by a Pakistan Army helicopter,” one of the mountaineers said after the rescue.
Speaking about her stressful experience, another climber said: “I came here to K2 base camp. However, due to bad weather conditions, I fell ill. I had a really bad cough and flu and was then rescued by the army.”
“I fell from the glacier and the Pakistan Army rescued me from the glacier,” another climber added sharing their harrowig experience.
After the rescue operation, the army rescuers provided immediate medical aid and warmth to the climbers, who were grateful to their saviours for bringing them to safety.
Adventurous climbers consider Pakistan a significant mountainous location as the country hosts five of the world’s 14 mountains above 8,000 meters — thus eight-thousanders. However, some mountaineers in their challenging endeavours face dire situations and sometimes even death.
Earlier in 2023, a Pakistani porter died as hundreds ascended the K2 summit, including Norwegian climber Kristin Harila and her Nepali guide Tenjin “Lama” Sherpa.
Additionally, well-known Mohammad Ali Sadpara and two others went missing in 2021 when they attempted to scale the K2 mountain.
They were then officially declared dead by the authorities. Notably, Sadpara is the only Pakistani to have climbed eight of the world’s 14 highest mountains.
K2 is located around 10 kilometres north of Gasherbrum IV in the Gilgit-Baltistan region, where the Karakoram mountain range is located. It is one of the deadliest mountains in the world as many climbers have lost their lives trying to reach its peak.
