GILGIT: According to the military’s media branch, the Pakistan Army has begun an effort to rescue Skardu climber Murad Sadpara, who was involved in an accident on the Broad Peak on Sunday morning.
According to Pakistani mountaineer Naila Kiani, who called the army for assistance in rescuing Mr. Sadpara, he slipped at an altitude of about 5,000 meters while assisting a Portuguese woman climber on her ascent of Broad Peak.
She informed Dawn that Mr. Sadpara and a Nepali sherpa had been recruited by the Portuguese climber to help her reach the summit. Inclement weather caused Mr. Sadpara to fall close to Camp 1 while the team was making its way back from the summit.
Ms. Kiani tweeted on her Facebook page shortly after the Sunday morning disaster, pleading for the army to assist in rescuing the injured climber.
Ms. Kiani wrote, referring to a mission she led earlier this month to retrieve the body of a porter who had died on K2 last year, “Murad Sadpara, our top climber and a true legend who helped retrieve the body of Hassan Shigri from K2 bottleneck last week, has met with an accident on Broad Peak and urgently needs rescue.”
In order to save Mr. Sadpara, Ms. Kiani asked the army to dispatch four climbers from Skardu to the “crampon point” of Broad Peak.
She said, “Please remember Murad in your prayers for a safe journey back to Skardu.”
Inter-Services Public Relations reports that two seasoned climbers were dropped by an Army Aviation helicopter at the Broad Peak base camp in order to save Mr. Sadpara.
Dawn was informed by Alpine Club of Pakistan Secretary Karrar Haideri that Ms. Kiani and Mr. Sadpara’s family had asked the army for assistance.
He hoped the two rescuers would get to the sick climber first thing in the morning.
Additionally, Mr. Haideri expressed gratitude to the army for moving quickly to save the climber.
