Kathmandu [Nepal], August 2 (ANI): Rescuers on Sunday retrieved the body of famed British-Nepalese climber Nirmal Purja alongside other three climbers to Camp-I of the Broad Peak, officials announced.
The ground rescue team had reached Purja’s body at an altitude of about 5700 meters along with three other climbers, which have been brought to Camp I, the Alpine Club Pakistan (ACP) announced.
As per the ACP, the three additional bodies recovered and transported to Camp I are identified as Chinese climber Wang Zhong and Nepali guides Nima Sherpa and Kili Pemba Sherpa.
The rescue team had started the retrieval mission amid the hazardous conditions on the world’s 12th-highest peak before dawn on Sunday. The 10-member team comprising Pakistani and Nepali climbers had started off for Camp I at 4 AM (Local Time) and made their way through the debris of the avalanche that struck last week.
The ongoing recovery mission is led by Veteran Nepali climber Mingma Gyalje Sherpa (Mingma G), Dawa Sherpa and Pakistani mountaineer Sirbaz Khan.
Famed climber Purja aka Nimsdai and his team of 10 climbers were hit by an avalanche while summiting the 8,051-meter peak on Thursday. There were hopes that he would make it back alive, as his tracking device showed some movement of about 10 meters. This had given a hope of him being alive, conscious and awaiting rescue but it slowly started to fade off with the time in delay for the deployment of rescue teams.
Tracking data showed that Nirmal Purja had reached an altitude of 6,659 metres, above Camp II on Broad Peak, at 9:38 AM (local time) on Thursday. The tracker then recorded a rapid descent of about 800 metres to 5,891 metres at 10:18 AM, consistent with the reported avalanche. No further location data was transmitted from Purja’s tracker thereafter except for the 10-metre change, which was assumed to be a glitch.
The 43 old record holding climber was born in a village in Myagdi district of Nepal, which lies at an altitude of around 1,600 metres. Hailing from a Gurkha family, he joined the British Army’s Gurkha Regiment in 2003 at the age of 18 and was later selected for the United Kingdom Special Forces in 2009.
During his 16 years of military service, Purja developed a passion for mountaineering. He made his first ascent in 2012 by climbing the 6,119-metre Lobuche Peak. In 2018, he resigned from the military to pursue mountaineering full-time. The same year, he was awarded the Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) by Queen Elizabeth II in recognition of his achievements.
Purja rose to global prominence in 2019 after completing his Project Possible 14/7, climbing all 14 of the world’s 8,000-metre peaks in a record six months and six days.
Two days after the avalanche, the rescuers had recovered the body of Nepali climbing guide Gyalu Sherpa. Gyalu, from eastern Nepal’s Sankhuwasabha district, held a Guinness World Record for climbing Kanchenjunga, the world’s third-highest mountain, three times in a single season after summiting on May 10, 19 and 25, last year.
Last week, the bodies of Nepali guide Pur Bahadur Gurung, known as “Yukta”, and Omani climber Nadhira Ahmed Abdullah Al Harthy were retrieved from the slopes. Nadhira was the first Omani woman to summit Everest.
Rescuers also recovered a severed leg believed to belong to American climber Mallory Geis. Al Harthy’s body has been flown to Islamabad, while the others remain in Skardu awaiting further arrangements.
All the climbers were confirmed dead on Saturday evening by Nims expedition company, Elite Exped, in social media posts. A total of 5 Nepali climbers lost their lives on the mountain, who have been named as Pur Bahadur Gurung “Yukta”, Kili Pemba Sherpa “Kilu”, Nima Sherpa, Nawang Thindu Sherpa and Gyalu Sherpa.
Nadhira Ahmed Abdullah Al Harthy from Oman, Sohail Sakhi from Pakistan, Wang Zhong from China, Mallory Geis from the United States and Nirmal “Nims” Purja from the United Kingdom are others who have died in the avalanche. (ANI)
