Nirmal Purja missing in Pakistan avalanche, club says

Nepali mountaineer Nirmal Purja is among 10 people missing after an avalanche hit a climbing team on Broad Peak in northern Pakistan, the Alpine Club of Pakistan said.

The club said late Thursday it had received reports of an avalanche on Broad Peak, an 8,047-metre mountain in the Karakoram range. It said the team was led by Purja and had been out of communication since the incident.

The Alpine Club of Pakistan said the expedition included 10 people: five Nepalese climbers, a Pakistani, an Omani, an American, a climber from China and one other foreigner.

The club said two Pakistan Army helicopters carrying rescue personnel and specialised equipment had been sent to support the search. It said the helicopters were reinforcing ground efforts to assist the climbers in a difficult high-altitude environment.

Purja, 43, previously served with Britain's Brigade of Gurkhas before joining the Special Boat Squadron of the Royal Marines. He later became a full-time mountaineer and guide.

He climbed all 14 peaks above 8,000 metres in six months and six days in 2019, then a record. In 2021, he and nine other Nepalese climbers completed the first winter ascent of K2.

Purja wrote on X this week that he was close to becoming the first person to climb all 14 “super peaks” twice without oxygen. Broad Peak is the world's 12th highest mountain and was first summited in 1957 by an Austrian team.