American Climber Among Dead After Avalanche Strikes World’s 12th Highest Peak

Clear Facts

• American climber Sarah Mallory Geis and at least two others confirmed dead after avalanche on Broad Peak in Pakistan
• At least 10 international climbers caught in avalanche Thursday on the 26,414-foot mountain, the world’s 12th tallest
• Renowned British mountaineer Nirmal Purja, who holds world record for fastest ascent of 14 highest peaks, among the missing

The remains of an American mountain climber who got caught in an avalanche in Pakistan were found on Friday, according to Pakistani officials. Sarah Mallory Geis was climbing Broad Peak in Pakistan’s Karakoram mountain range with an international group of at least 10 people when they went missing on Thursday.

A rescue team also found the remains of Nadhira Ahmed Abdullah Al Harthy of Oman and Pur Bahadur Gurung of Nepal on Friday. There were signs of several more bodies where the rescue team was searching, drone footage showed, according to local officials.

At 26,414 feet, Broad Peak is the twelfth-tallest mountain in the world. The rescue operation was temporarily halted Friday night due to weather conditions.

“We hope to continue our operations, both aerial search and the ground rescue, till the time we find the survivors or the dead bodies,” Irfan Arshad, president of the Alpine Club of Pakistan, said Friday.

Sajid Hussain, deputy director of the tourism department in Gilgit-Baltistan, called the rescue area “remote and difficult.”

“High-altitude porters and rescue teams are working to retrieve the bodies and transport them to the base camp,” the Gilgit-Baltistan police said in a Facebook post Friday.

“Due to the extremely rugged terrain and challenging weather conditions, the rescue operation is being carried out with the utmost caution.”

The other missing climbers are from Nepal, Pakistan, China and the U.K. Renowned British mountaineer Nirmal Purja, 43, who is of Nepalese origin, and who set the record for the fastest ascent of the world’s 14 highest mountains, was among the missing.

Purja was featured in the Netflix documentary “14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible.” The rescue teams continue to face extraordinary challenges as they work in one of the world’s most unforgiving environments.

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