SKARDU: Rescuers recovered Nirmal Purja’s body from Broad Peak on Sunday after an avalanche killed the British-Nepali mountaineer and nine other expedition members, the Alpine Club of Pakistan said.
A ground team reached Purja at about 5,700 metres, according to the club’s statement.
Alpine Club General Secretary Ayaz Shigri said rescuers were carrying four bodies down the mountain. They included Purja, two other Nepali nationals and a Chinese citizen.
The team also located another body at a higher elevation. Shigri said the hazardous terrain and severe weather made an immediate recovery attempt unlikely.
The avalanche struck the international expedition on Thursday, July 30, cutting off contact with the climbers. Purja’s expedition company confirmed Saturday that none of the 10 members had survived.
Authorities had previously recovered three bodies belonging to an Omani woman, a Nepali man and an American woman. Helicopters transported their remains to Skardu on Friday.
Purja, 43, climbed all 14 mountains above 8,000 metres in 189 days in 2019. He also joined the first successful winter ascent of K2 in January 2021.
Read: Broad Peak Avalanche Leaves Four Dead, Six Missing
Broad Peak is the world’s 12th-highest mountain. It rises in the Karakoram range of Gilgit-Baltistan in northern Pakistan.
Prince William joined mountaineers and officials in offering condolences to the victims’ families, according to Sky News.
