2 Russians rescued, 1 missing after ice hits climbing team on a Pakistan peak

ISLAMABAD -- A Pakistani army helicopter rescued two Russians while one is missing after their team was hit by a pile of ice on a treacherous peak in the country’s north, an official said Monday.

Karrar Haidri, the secretary of the Alpine Club of Pakistan, said a rescue mission was underway to safely bring down two more climbers who were part of the five-member Russian team stranded on Gasherbrum peak in the Karakoram range after the ice formation hit their team.

“Unfortunately, the expedition encountered a devastating disaster. As the team ascended the mountain, an ice formation, possibly a serac, collapsed, unleashing a catastrophic event,” Haidri said.

He said the rescue mission was launched on Saturday after the ice hit the climbers, who were on a mission to retrieve the body of a climber lost on the same mountain in 2023.

He said there was no government advisory about bad weather and the climbers faced the disaster suddenly after the mass of ice fell on them.

Hundreds of climbers try to scale mountains in northern Pakistan every year, and such accidents are common because of avalanches and sudden weather changes. Last week, a Pakistani climber Murad Sadpara, 35, known for taking part in high-altitude rescue missions died during a descent from one of the country’s tallest mountains in the north.