Three foreign climbers feared dead on Pakistani peaks

Three foreign climbers are missing and feared dead in Pakistan’s treacherous Karakorum Mountains in the country’s far north, an official said Thursday.

Pakistan is home to five of the world’s 14 ‘super peaks’ – which are over 8,000 meters (26,246 feet) tall – and the climbing season is currently in full swing.

A senior government official at Gilgit Baltistan’s tourism department told AFP that Canadian Richard Cartier and Australian Matthew Eakin were missing on K2, the world’s second highest mountain, while Brit Gordon Henderson was found trying to climb Broad Peak, the 12th highest was lost.

“We cannot declare them dead until the bodies are found,” the officer said.

“We pray we find her alive, but the chances are very slim.”

Henderson, a squadron commander in Britain’s Royal Air Force, went missing on July 19 atop 8,051-meter Broad Peak, the armed forces said on their verified Facebook page.

“Our thoughts are with the family, friends and colleagues of Wing Commander Henderson at this terrible time,” it said.

Eakin and Cartier have been missing K2, nicknamed “Savage Mountain” for its high level of difficulty, since the weekend.

According to the Pakistan Alpine Club, records were broken this season when over 140 people scaled the 8,611-metre K2 – including 20 women.

Up until this year, it had only been climbed 425 times, while Everest – the world’s highest – has been climbed by more than 6,000 people since Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay first summited in 1953.

A video shared on social media by Nepalese climber Mingma Gyalje earlier this week showed a long line of tethered climbers squeezing their way up K2.

“That’s the scariest part,” he said in an accompanying caption on his Facebook and Instagram pages.

K2 earned its nickname due to its harsh conditions — in winter, winds can blow in excess of 200 kilometers per hour (125 miles per hour) and temperatures drop to minus 60 degrees Celsius (minus 76 Fahrenheit).

Last week Sanu Sherpa of Nepal became the first person to double summit all 14 super peaks after summiting Gasherbrum II in Pakistan.

Norway’s Kristin Harila, meanwhile, is attempting to break the record for climbing all 14 super peaks in the fastest time, equaling Nepalese adventurer Nirmal Purja’s record of six months and six days.

The 36-year-old climbed K2 – the eighth peak of the challenge – on Thursday on the 70th day of her pursuit.