KHAPLU, GILGIT-BALTISTAN: Rescuers have found body of a Japanese trekker, who went missing in Pakistan’s northern Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) region, after a week-long effort that also involved volunteers from a local mountaineering club, a rescue official said on Saturday.
The deceased Japanese tourist, identified as 64-year-old Yosuke Akiba, had gone to the Masroor Rock view point GB’s Skardu district. The site, which lies over 3,700 meters above the sea level, is a popular trekking destination that offers stunning, panoramic views of the city, the Indus River and surrounding mountains.
Ghulam Rasool, a spokesperson for the Rescue 1122 service, told Arab News Akiba’s body was found in a deep crevasse in Hussainabad area near the rockside, where he had gone without a local tourist guide.
“After a continuous seven-day search operation, Rescue 1122 Skardu recovered the body of the missing Japanese tourist from a deep crevasse,” the official said.
“Rescue teams continued the operation with professional expertise and tireless efforts through extremely difficult mountainous terrain.”
The official said the body was retrieved using ropes and specialized equipment, and was being brought down to Skardu.
Volunteers from Sadpara Mountaineering Club also took part in the search mission.
“Four veteran climbers from the club participated in the operation alongside Rescue 1122,” Ghulam Muhammad Sadpara, the chairman for the club, told Arab News.
“Our climbers joined the rescue mission early Saturday morning and the team finally succeeded in locating the body.”
GB, a sparsely populated region administered by Pakistan as an autonomous territory, is home to thousands of glaciers and five of the world’s 14 peaks above 8,000 meters. The region is frequented by thousands of climbers, trekkers and tourists each year.
Last month, a Malaysian tourist died after reportedly suffering a stroke in Skardu, according to police. Chong Yong Huva, a 60-year-old woman, was found dead in her hotel room on April 16.
