Ali Sadpara and two other team members, who are on an expedition to conquer K2 during the winter, remain missing as of Saturday as Pakistan Army helicopters tasked with on a “search flight” returned to Skardu, unable to locate the three climbers.
Sadpara, John Snorri from Iceland and MP Mohr from Chile have not been contacted since the three began their push for the K2 summit from camp 3 at midnight between Thursday and Friday, according to their team.
The helicopters reportedly flew to a height of 7,000 metres in their attempt to locate the missing mountaineers but were unable to find any clues to their whereabouts. They had to return due to worsening weather and light conditions.
Earlier, Sadpara and his team had successfully summited the 8,611-metre K2 — the world’s second highest mountain, a month after their first attempt failed.
Media reports state that Ali’s son, Sajid Sadpara, who had been waiting at Camp 2, has now begun to descend.
The three mountaineers have gone missing after a Bulgarian mountaineer, Atanas Skatov, 42, fell to his death while changing ropes during his descent to basecamp.
His body was later recovered by a Pakistani military helicopter.
It may be noted here that winds at K2 can blow at more than 200 kilometres per hour and temperatures can drop to minus 60 degrees Celsius.
With Pakistan’s borders open and with few other places to go, this winter an unprecedented four teams totalling around 60 climbers have converged on the mountain, more than all previous expeditions put together.
