Marooned Italian climbers spotted
ISLAMABAD, July 19: A rescue helicopter has spotted two Italian mountaineers marooned on the Nanga Parbat.
The two climbers — Simon Kehrer (29) and Walter Nones (36) — had been stranded on Nanga Parbat, the dreaded “killer mountain”, since early this week after their associate, Karl Unterkircher, stumbled into a crevasse and died.
“They have been sighted. They have also been reached with some equipment, food and other essentials. We dropped them a bag with some equipment,” an Italian embassy spokesman said.
Tariq, the expedition’s facilitator, told Dawn on Saturday that the Italian mountaineers had started climbing the 8,126-metre Nanga Parbat, the second highest mountain in Pakistan, on July 15 while the incident involving Mr Unterkircher occurred on July 16 after the weather worsened.
Mr Tariq said two rescue mountaineers, Silvio Mondinelli and Maurizio Gallo, had arrived in Islamabad from Italy on Friday. They were at present an hour away from the base camp of the Nanga Parbat, the facilitator added.
COPTER PILOT: Major Aamir, the pilot of the helicopter who made a successful second attempt to spot the mountaineers after bad weather hit the first flight, said: “We have dropped some eatables and communication equipment for the two mountaineers.
“It was in the second attempt when we spotted them at a height of 7,200 metres. They are safe over there.” Asked whether any of the two mountaineers was sick or needed medical assistance, the pilot said “both of them are fine as we have a communication through signals”.
Agencies add: The embassy spokesman said bad weather and a sharp incline were hampering efforts to rescue Kehrer and Nones.
“Weather conditions are quite bad over there, quite uncomfortable. So helicopters are not able to get close to them,” he said. “They are on a wall of the mountain. It’s a spot where helicopter is not able to get them. It’s too high and too vertical.”
Nanga Parbat is the world’s ninth-highest peak. Its name means naked mountain.
The 26,660-feet high peak, at the western end of the Himalayas, was first conquered by German Buhl, of Germany, in 1953 after 31 people died attempting it.
Since then more have died on its slopes and fewer people try to climb it because it is regarded as technically one of the most difficult mountains to climb.