By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Two Japanese climbers fell from a height of 7,500 metres on K2, the world’s second-highest mountain, on Saturday, with their chances of survival slim, officials said.
Kazuya Hiraide, 45, and Kenro Nakajima, 39, both employed by Tokyo-based Ishii Sports Co., were descending the 8,611-metre peak when they lost their footing, Waliullah Falahi, Shigar Deputy Commissioner, said. “They fell from a height of 7,500m west of K2.”
The two men were mountain photographers.
A search operation by army aviation helicopters spotted the pair but observed no movement. Rescue efforts have been hampered by the high altitude, with aerial evacuation ruled out.
“It’s unlikely they survived the fall,” Falahi said, citing expert opinion. “A ground rescue team would, however, be prepared to rescue the two climbers.”
The secretary of the Alpine Club of Pakistan, Karrar Haidri, said he was aware of the incident in which two Japanese went missing on K2 and “we are hoping for a miracle, and miracles do happen after such incidents.”
This incident marks the second fatal accident on Gilgit’s mountains this month after Japanese climber Onishi Hiroshi died on Spantik Peak. In June, two Japanese climbers went missing on the same mountain, with one body recovered.
Every year, hundreds of climbers try to scale mountains in northern Pakistan, including K2 and Nanga Parbat, and each year several die.
Currently, alpine activity is in full swing in Gilgit-Baltistan as more than 2,000 local and foreign mountaineers are in the region to climb some of the highest mountains in the world.
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