ISLAMABAD: Pakistani climber Asif Bhatti, who was initially stranded for several hours 7,500 meters above sea level at the Nanga Parbat mountain due to snow blindness, started his descent toward Camp 3 at the mountain on Tuesday, a group of mountaineers named the Karakorum Club said.
A rescue team organized by Karakorum Expeditions was awaiting a Pakistan Army helicopter to go searching for Bhatti. Nicknamed the “killer mountain,” Nanga Parbat stands 8,125 meters (26,660 feet) tall and is recognized as the world’s ninth-highest peak. Several climbers in the past have died attempting to summit the towering mountain. According to the Alpine Club of Pakistan, Polish climber Pawel Tomasz Kopec became the latest victim of the treacherous mountain, passing away from acute altitude sickness on Monday.
“As per updates, Asif Bhatti and Azerbaijan’s climber Isfrafyl have already started the descent toward C3,” the Karakorum Club wrote on Twitter, adding that two other Karakorum Expedition climbers would be dropped by a helicopter at Camp 2 to provide further help to Bhatti.
On Sunday, Pakistani women mountaineers Naila Kiani and Samina Baig scaled Nanga Parbat along with a group of over a dozen local and international climbers. The feat made Kiani and Baig the first Pakistani women to summit the peak.
Last month, 23 climbers from Norway, Russia, the United States, Switzerland, France, Turkiye, Mexico, Nepal and Pakistan summited Nanga Parbat.
Five of the globe’s 14 mountains above 8,000 meters are in Pakistan— including Nanga Parbat, which earned the nickname “killer mountain” after more than 30 people died trying to climb it before the first successful summit in 1953.
