Avalanche on K2. – Photo credit: Adam Forslund

GILGIT: Nine porters carrying goods of a foreign expedition party were buried under a snow avalanche in remote glacier of Baltoro, Shigar valley on Tuesday morning. The area is near Askoli point, the base camp of the K2 Mountain, police chief of Skardu said.

“We have reports that avalanche hit nine porters. Of them six are missing, one is injured while bodies of two have been recovered,” police chief Sultan Azam told Dawn by phone.

He said the mountaineers like Hassan Sadpara had been urged to help the police search the missing porters.

Mr Azam said police officer at Shigar had been asked to leave for the site early on Wednesday with a team of personnel to search for the missing men. He said police were unable to reach the area immediately as there was no communication link to the point. Mr Azam said it was yet to be known which country the expedition party was from and which area the porters belonged to. However, some other official sources inside the administration said the number of porters was seven and three had been confirmed dead while four were severely injured who could die in case they were not rescued from the high altitude point.—Correspondent