By Gopal Sharma
KATHMANDU, Aug 1 (Reuters) – Celebrated Nepali climber Nirmal Purja, who set a record for the fastest ascent of the world’s 14 highest mountains, died in an avalanche during an expedition in Pakistan, his company said on Saturday.
“Today it is with profound sadness and immense heartbreak that we confirm that Nirmal ‘Nimsdai’ Purja tragically lost his life following the avalanche on Broad Peak,” his expedition organising company Elite Exped said in an Instagram post.
“We have also received confirmation that other members of the expedition sadly did not survive,” it added.
Nepal Prime Minister Balendra Shah said he was stunned at the deaths of the climbers, including Purja.
“Only physical journey of the climbers has stopped. But the history of their courage, dedication and contributions will always remain alive and inspiring,” Shah wrote in a social media post.
Purja, 43, and nine others had been missing since Thursday after being struck by an avalanche on the 8,051-metre (26,414-foot) Broad Peak, the world’s 12th-highest mountain, a technically difficult climb in Pakistan’s Gilgit-Baltistan region.
Officials said the bodies of Purja and other climbers were located in a difficult site and had yet to be retrieved.
Purja, who served in the British military with the Gurkhas and later in special forces, completed his record-breaking feat in six months in 2019. He became widely known internationally after the Netflix documentary chronicling his journey, “14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible,” was released two years later.
UK defence minister Wes Streeting said he was “incredibly” sad to learn of the death of Purja and the other climbers. “He was an inspirational man who served in our Armed Forces for many years – and whose incredible mountaineering adventures are known the world over,” Streeting wrote on X.
The 10 mountaineers were caught in an avalanche around midday on Thursday. Six of them were Nepalis and the others were from Pakistan, Oman, the U.S. and China.
Search crews recovered three bodies on Friday.
Chhang Dawa Sherpa, a board director of Seven Summit Treks which had three Sherpa guides among the dead climbers, said the remaining bodies were “spotted and identified” with the help of drone footage and were yet to be retrieved.
“They are in a difficult spot and have not been retrieved yet,” Chhang told Reuters.
He said that unlike Nepal, Pakistan does not have the practice of long-line rescue by helicopters on the mountains.
“We have to take into account the safety of those who go and retrieve the bodies.”
Sajid Hussain, deputy director of the tourism department of Gilgit-Baltistan region of Pakistan, said the rescue operation was ongoing.
“Rescue teams have successfully identified the location of the victims; however, they have not yet been able to recover and bring them down safely,” he told Reuters.
While drone surveillance and aerial reconnaissance had helped identify the exact location, reaching the dead and safely recovering them remains a difficult task, he said.
In 2019, Purja climbed Annapurna, the 10th-highest mountain in the world. He then began taking on other 8,000-metre peaks. Of the world’s 14 highest mountains, eight are in Nepal, five in Pakistan and one in the Tibet region of China.
Elite climbers said Purja was a “charismatic colourful” character. “If we talk about his legacy it’s hard to not focus on how he was at the forefront of shaking up the high altitude guiding,” British climber Kenton Cool, who has climbed Everest 20 times, the most by a non-Sherpa, told Reuters.
(Reporting by Gopal Sharma; additional reporting by Mushtaq Ali in Peshawar; Editing by Alex Richardson and Hugh Lawson)
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