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Islamabad, February 7
Pakistan Army helicopters on Sunday suspended the search and rescue operations after failing to trace three climbers, including renowned Pakistani mountaineer Muhammad Ali Sadpara, who went missing two days ago on K2, the world’s second highest mountain.
Sadpara and two other climbers, John Snorri from Iceland and Juan Pablo from Chile, were trying to summit the 8,611-metre (28,250-foot) high K2 mountain, sometimes referred to as “Savage Mountain” when they went missing on Friday night, according to officials.
Two army helicopters flew for the second day to their maximum limit of 7,800 metres and conducted aerial reconnaissance for an hour to locate the missing climbers but without any success.
Hopes fade for three climbers missing on killer K2 mountain
Two days of helicopters searches have failed to spot Ali Sadpara of Pakistan, John Snorri of Iceland and Juan Pablo Mohr of Chile
Missing K2 Climbers Muhammad Ali Sadpara and John Snorr
Credit: John Snorri/Instagram
Hopes were fading on Sunday night for three mountaineers still missing on the world s second tallest mountain after a second day of searches failed to find the trio.
Ali Sadpara of Pakistan, John Snorri of Iceland and Juan Pablo Mohr of Chile were last in contact with base camp on Friday as they pushed for the top of K2.
Explaining his decision to return from the expedition, Sajid said that he realised that it will be difficult for him to continue the expedition without oxygen after reaching 8,200 metres, adding that when he tried to use the available oxygen, it emerged that their regulators had leaked.
He said that at that point in the expedition, he was mentally disturbed and his father and John Snorri asked him to return.
Sadpara is a Pakistani mountaineer and has proudly hoisted the country s flag on eight peaks. He was also part of the team which successfully achieved the first-ever winter summit on Nanga Parbat in 2016.