A French woman has been found alive but suffering frostbite and unable to walk on Nanga Parbat, while rescuers are still trying to reach another Polish climber, both of whom have been missing since Thursday while attempting to scale the mountain, Polish media reported on Sunday.
Two Pakistan Army helicopters began an operation Saturday on the request of the Polish and French embassies to rescue the two European mountain climbers after they got stuck while trying to summit the 8,126-meter-tall Nanga Parbat, the ninth-highest peak in the world.
Karrar Haidri, a top official of the Pakistan Alpine Federation, said four volunteers from a Polish expedition were airlifted to the Nanga Parbat base camp and dropped close to the two stranded climbers ─ Tomasz Mackiewicz of Poland and Elisabeth Revol of France.
He said the volunteers had spotted the two mountaineers, and were climbing to 7,000 meters above sea level to try to reach them.
Later Saturday, Polish media, which have followed the developments closely, reported that Revol had been found alive, citing tweets by a friend and other sources. She had frostbite on her feet, could not walk and the operation to get her off the mountain was expected to be difficult.
Mackiewicz reportedly is suffering from snow blindness and altitude sickness. A day earlier his sister was quoted in Polish media as saying it would be a miracle if he survives.
Earlier in the day Haidri said the local weather was bad, with temperatures at -60 degrees Celsius at the height where the climbers are stuck.
