Plans are underway to set up a team of four high-altitude porters (HAPs) from the Gilgit-Baltistan region to help with ground activities once the climbers are spotted using aerial search. Photo by Madison Mountaineering/File
The search and rescue operation to locate missing climbers Muhammad Ali Sadpara, John Snorri and Juan Pablo Mohr on K2 could not resume on Wednesday as bad weather persisted for the third straight day while the government has decided to set up a team of four high-altitude porters (HAPs) from the Gilgit-Baltistan region to help with ground activities once the climbers are spotted using aerial search.
Hopes faded Wednesday for three climbers lost on Pakistan's brutal K2 as bad weather halted search operations on the world's second highest mountain. "No search operation has been carried out since yesterday afternoon," Raja Nasir Ali Khan, the tourism minister in Gilgit-Baltistan where K2 is located, told AFP Wednesday.
C-130 aircraft to be used for search of Ali Sadpara, other missing mountaineers
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The land operation to locate the mountaineers has been suspended due to harsh weather conditions
ISLAMABAD (Dunya News/AFP) – The concerned authorities have decided to use Pakistan Air Force’s (PAF) C-130 aircraft at the height of over 8,000 meters on the world’s second-highest mountain K2 for the search of missing mountaineers Muhammad Ali Sadpara, Jon Snorri and Juan Pablo Mohr.
According to details, the land operation to find the mountaineers has been suspended due to harsh weather conditions.
It is to be mentioned here that climbers John Snorri from Iceland, Juan Pablo Mohr from Chile and Muhammad Ali Sadpara from Pakistan had lost contact with base camp on February 5.
This file photo shows Pakistani climber Muhammad Ali Sadpara on top of K2. Photo: Sadpara Facebook
The search for Muhammad Ali Sadpara, Jon Snorri and Juan Pablo Mohr who went missing on K2 has been suspended for today (Tuesday) due to strong winds and snowfall and will resume tomorrow, with the army deploying a C-130 for the mission.
The three men were last seen at the Bottleneck barely 400 meters below the summit of the Savage Mountain. A narrow couloir, the Bottleneck is overhung by seracs (extremely large blocks of glacial ice that often topple without warning) from the ice field east of the summit. Climbers have to traverse about 100m exposed to the seracs to pass the Bottleneck.