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Helicopters save climbers after K2 disaster
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-08-04 19:37 "At least 11 climbers have died. This is one of the worst incidents in the history of K2 climbing," Alam said. The incident was the deadliest to hit the peak on the Pakistan-China border since 1986 when 12 climbers died, said Nazir Sabir, a celebrated Pakistani mountaineer who scaled K2 in 1981. In Seoul, a mountaineering club on Monday confirmed that three South Koreans and two Sherpas were among those killed, adding that another two Korean climbers got to base camp before the avalanche struck. The survivors had suspended attempts to recover the bodies of their colleagues due to the "hopeless" weather conditions, Cho Hyung-Gyu, president of the country's southeastern Kyongnam mountaineering club, told AFP. A Swedish climber who survived said he feared for his life when a Pakistani climber fell on top of him. "I have carried down both living and dead people from the mountain," the climber, Fredrik Straeng, told the Swedish news agency TT, also putting the death toll at 11. "I was terrified that (the Pakistani) would pull us all off the cliff and screamed to him to use his ice axe, but he lost his grip and plummeted off a 300-metre cliff," Straeng said. He said a large number of climbers decided to leave their camp at just over 7,000 metres before disaster struck to try to reach the summit after the skies cleared following a long period of poor weather. "We had a feeling this would not turn out well and decided to turn around. The accident could have been prevented. These mountains lure out way too inexperienced and naive people," he said. Missing Irishman Gerard McDonnell, 37, an Alaska-based oil worker who has climbed Everest, was given up for dead by experienced mountaineering friend Pat Falvey. Norwegian media reported that Rolf Bae, 33, died in the disaster, while his wife was reportedly trying to make her way down with two other Norwegians. Italian climbers Achille Compagnoni and Lino Lacedelli first scaled K2 on July 31, 1954. Between that first ascent and 2007, there were 284 successful ascents and 66 fatalities. In the same period, Everest was summited 3,681 times, with 210 deaths. |
