Skardu, Gilgit Baltistan,
Muhammad Ali Sadpara and two other mountaineers John Snorri from Iceland and Juan Pablo Mohr from Chile had gone missing on Saturday after which a search operation to retrieve them was launched.
It had been reported two days ago that Sadpara and his team had successfully summited the 8,611-metre K2, the world’s second-highest mountain, late Friday, a month after their first attempt failed.
Helicopters flew to a height of 7,000 metres on Saturday afternoon in their attempt to locate the missing mountaineers but were unable to find any clue to their whereabouts.
Pakistan Army’s continued their search for Pakistani mountaineer Muhammad Ali Sadpara, Iceland’s John Snorri and Chile’s Juan Pablo Mohr for the third day with helicopters hoping to locate the missing men alive.
Gilgit Baltistan’s Home Secretary Muhammad Ali Randhawa shared pictures taken of the K2 on the Pakistan Army Aviation Helicopters during the search operation.
Some pictures taken during Search operation. 🇵🇰 Army Aviation Helis are on mission https://t.co/qtE9GyUmIX pic.twitter.com/v3LBPHjGYG
— Muhammad Ali Randhawa (@RandhawaAli) February 8, 2021
Earlier, Randhawa had tweeted that the third-day helicopter search mission by Pakistan Army aviation began at 9:30 am.
The secretary had shared the update after the helicopters had reached the basecamp.
On Sunday, Sajid Ali Sadpara, the son of Muhammad Ali Sadpara, who safely climbed down and reached Skardu, had said that the chances of his father being alive “are next to none”.
In a conversation with reporters in Skardu, where he arrived earlier on Sunday, Sajid said: “Rescue operations now only make sense if they are carried out to bring back his body. Otherwise, the chance for anyone to survive at 8,000 meters after being missing for two to three days are next to none.”
Sajid said that a team of four mountaineers began their climb at around 11pm-12am on February 5 the night between Thursday and Friday.
“Unfortunately, I was without oxygen and at a height of about 8,200 meters in the winter. I felt like my health was getting affected as well as my mental well being.”
“My father was carrying another oxygen tank which he offered me to use. But as I began fitting the oxygen mask regulator, it leaked. So, I had to climb down,” he narrated.
Sajid said that the last time he saw his father was at the bottleneck at around 8,200-8,300 meters, the most “technical portion” of the climb, at around 11am on Friday.
“I’m sure he summited the peak and was on his way back after which he encountered an accident which is why he is missing,” he said.
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