KHAPLU, Gilgit-Baltistan: Record-setting Nepali mountaineer Nirmal “Nimsdai” Purja has died after an avalanche struck an expedition on Pakistan’s Broad Peak, his expedition company confirmed on Saturday, in a disaster that also killed one of Oman’s most accomplished climbers.
Elite Exped, the company Purja co-founded and which organized the expedition, said the 43-year-old mountaineer, whose record-breaking ascents of the world’s highest mountains made him one of the best-known figures in modern climbing, was among members of a 10-person international team caught in the avalanche while attempting to scale the 8,047-meter (26,401-foot) peak on Thursday.
The dead also included Omani mountaineer Nadhira Ahmed Abdullah Al Harthy, the first Omani woman to summit Mount Everest and the first Omani to climb K2 and Nanga Parbat.
“Today, it is with profound sadness and immense heartbreak that we confirm that Nirmal ‘Nimsdai’ Purja tragically lost his life following the avalanche on Broad Peak,” Elite Exped said in a statement posted on Instagram.
“We have also received confirmation that other members of the expedition sadly did not survive.”
The company said it was mourning not only Purja but “every life lost in this tragedy,” while asking for privacy for the families of those killed. It thanked Pakistani search-and-rescue teams and said it would make no further comment beyond information confirmed by the relevant authorities.
Purja was celebrated worldwide after climbing the world’s 14 mountains above 8,000 meters in a record six months and six days in 2019, a feat later chronicled in the Netflix documentary “14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible.”
A former member of Britain’s elite Special Boat Service, he went on to become one of the most influential figures in Himalayan mountaineering, leading commercial expeditions while championing Nepali climbers on the global stage.
His death also resonated across the Gulf, where Al Harthy had become a symbol of Oman’s growing presence in high-altitude mountaineering. Her ascents of some of the world’s most challenging peaks had earned widespread recognition at home and across the region.
Pakistani authorities said military helicopters and experienced civilian climbers were continuing the search in one of the world’s most inhospitable mountain environments, although poor weather and difficult terrain have repeatedly hampered rescue efforts.
Broad Peak, the world’s 12th-highest mountain, lies near K2 in Pakistan’s northern Karakoram range. The region attracts elite climbers from around the world but is notorious for avalanches, rapidly changing weather and the extreme risks of high-altitude climbing.
