Noted Nepali-British mountaineer Nirmal (Nims) Purja is among ten climbers that was struck by a massive avalanche on Broad Peak in the Karakoram range of Pakistan on Thursday morning.
The team was making its way from Camp 2 to Camp 3 when the avalanche hit them at an elevation of 6,600m. Since everyone was swept away, staff at Base Camp found out about the avalanche only 12 hours later.
The Pakistan Air Force deployed search and rescue helicopters at first light on Friday. GPS tracking on some of the climbers in the group reportedly shows them drop hundreds of meters below the climbing route, a possible indication that they were hit by the avalanche.
Purja, 5 Nepali guides and a Pakistani were from four expeditions taking international clients from the US, Oman and China to the summit of the 8,047m peak.
Nims Purja, 43, a former Royal Navy Special Boat Service commando, shattered the world record for climbing all the world’s 14 highest mountains in just 6 months and six days in 2019 — a feat that had taken seven years by a previous Korean climber.
Purja was also featured in the documentary 14 Peaks: Nothing is Impossible about his humble beginnings in Nepal, his commando life in the British military and his ambition-driven mountaineering career. The film shows him risking his life saving other climbers on Kangchenjunga, and nearly being killed in a fall on Annapurna.