GILGIT: Sajid Sadpara along with other mountaineers has climbed the second-highest global peak — K2 — a day after he found the bodies of his father Mohammad Ali Sadpara, Iceland’s John Snorri, and Chile’s Juan Pablo Mohr at the bottleneck.
A message from the Twitter account of Sajid Sadpara announced the K2 summit from the climber along with Canadian filmmaker Elia Saikaly and Pasang Kaji Sherpa, who launched an expedition to find bodies of the three fallen mountaineers.
In his message, Ali Sadpara said that the last few days have been challenging and lucky for them all, high up in the mountains.
“With whole nation waiting and looking to hear about search and recovery of their hero Ali Sadpara. We are lucky enough to find the bodies of my companions from K2,” he said added that they were trying to secure and preserve it at a safe location for further possibilities.
He said that being at a very technical and dangerous slope, retrieving it in the first place is challenging and in order to honour his father Ali Sadpara and lost companions, he had once again set his foot on the summit of K2 and secured bodies of fallen climbers to a safe place as instant retrieval from above bottleneck is not possible without endangering many lives.
“Possibilities of retrieving bodies without further damages and without risking lives would be done at a later stage after consulting families and experts,” he said while thanking the entire nation for their love and prayers.
He further requested everyone at K2 to avoid sharing any photo or video of the bodies, as it would be painful for all families and friends.
Gilgit-Baltistan Information Minister Fatehullah Khan on Monday said that the bodies of mountaineers Muhammad Ali Sadpara, Iceland’s John Snorri and Chile’s Juan Pablo Mohr have been traced on K2.
A team, comprising Sadpara’s son Sajid Sadpara, Canadian filmmaker Elia Saikaly and Pasang Kaji Sherpa, is climbing K2, while being in contact with army officers, to find the bodies.
Talking to a private news channel, the minister said that army helicopters would approach the Base Camp of K2 to lift the bodies.
He added that the team had located the first body at close to 9 am this morning near the bottleneck area of the mountain.
“First, the body of John Snorri was located at 9 am below the bottleneck. He was wearing yellow and black coloured clothes,” said Khan. He added that the second body was located at 12pm but the team has not been able to identify the other two bodies.
The minister said that Snorri’s body was identified as the army’s focal person had confirmed the colours of his clothes.
According to a news outlet, Alpine Club of Pakistan Secretary Karrar Haideri said that it is “very difficult” to bring the bodies down from the mountain because of the high altitude, adding that the Army Aviation is helping in this regard.
The secretary further said that Snorri’s body would be shifted to Iceland at the request of his wife, Lina. Mohr’s sister and mother had also decided previously that his body would be brought back to Chile.
The mountaineers had gone missing on February 5 while trying to climb K2, the second-highest mountain in the world at 8,611 metres above sea level.
After days of search efforts that included the use of Pakistan Army helicopters, satellite imagery and SAR technology, the three climbers were officially declared dead on February 18.
Following Sadpara’s death, the Gilgit-Baltistan government had announced Rs3 million for his family and a suitable job for his son.
It had also approved the establishment of Muhammad Ali Sadpara Institute of Adventure Sports Mountaineering and Rock Climbing in recognition of his services.
Besides, the government had also decided to nominate Ali Sadpara for the highest national civil award.
