Nirmal Purja's body taken to Broad Peak base camp

The body of British-Nepali climber Nirmal Purja has been taken to Broad Peak base camp after an avalanche killed members of his expedition in northern Pakistan, the Alpine Club of Pakistan said Wednesday.

The club said the bodies of Purja, Chinese mountaineer Zhong Wang and Nepali climbers Nima Sherpa and Kilu Sherpa had been recovered after a difficult operation and had arrived at base camp.

The avalanche struck on July 30, cutting off contact with a 10-member international expedition led by the 43-year-old Purja on Broad Peak. Purja's company confirmed there were no survivors.

The Alpine Club of Pakistan said three climbers remained missing and that efforts to locate and recover them would continue when conditions allowed.

The remains of three other members of the team — an American woman, an Omani woman and a Nepali man — had already been flown off the mountain to Skardu. The bodies of two Nepali nationals and a Pakistani citizen had not yet been recovered.

Tul Singh Gurung, president of Nepal's National Mountain Guide Association, said the climbing community had "lost a generation of accomplished mountaineers."

Broad Peak is in the Karakoram range in northern Pakistan and is the world's 12th highest mountain. It was first summited in 1957 by an Austrian team.