By AFP,
Gilgit, Pakistan : Rescuers airlifted two frostbitten Dutch climbers to safety from K2 on Monday, but were unable to reach an Italian stranded by an ice fall that killed 11 men on the world’s second highest peak.
The Pakistani military mounted a dramatic helicopter operation to save survivors of the deadliest disaster to hit the 8,611-metre (28,251-foot) Himalayan summit, regarded as far more dangerous to scale than Mount Everest.
The Dutch mountaineers were helped down to base camp by team members and Pakistani guides from a position near the summit overnight, army officer Captain Azimullah Beg told AFP from the 5,200-metre camp. “They were then picked up by army helicopter from base camp this morning and have now been shifted to hospital for treatment for severe frostbite,” said Beg, identifying the climbers as Wilco Van Rooijen and Cas van de Gevel.
But the military helicopters were later grounded by a dust storm at their base in the northern city of Skardu and were unable to evacuate Italian climber Marco Confortola, officials said. Italy’s ANSA news agency, citing members of his climbing team, reported that Confortola had reached an upper camp at 6,100 metres, but was unable to go further.
“His condition is not good. He has some bruises and frostbite and exhaustion,” Brigadier Mohammad Akram, vice president of Adventure Foundation Pakistan, a tour organiser, told AFP. “If he is unable to get to advanced base camp tomorrow, from where a helicopter can evacuate him, then he might be sling-lifted. But this is a very technical operation and needs a lot of preparation,” he said.
Italian embassy spokesman Oddo Sergio said Confortola “has some problems with his arms and legs due to freezing. An attempt will be made tomorrow to rescue him.” Agostino Da Polenza, a member of Confortola’s team quoted by ANSA, said after talking to the stranded climber on a rescuer’s telephone that his “voice sounded strong and clear”.
The climbers who died in Friday’s avalanche were three South Koreans, two Nepalis, two Pakistanis, a Serbian, an Irishman, a Norwegian and a Frenchman, officials said.
The disaster happened when a pillar of ice broke away in a steep gully known as the Bottleneck near the summit and swept away fixed lines used by the mountaineers as they made their descent on Friday.
“At least 11 climbers have died. This is one of the worst incidents in the history of K2 climbing,” Pakistani mountain guide Sultan Alam told AFP. The deadliest year to date on the peak on the Pakistan-China border was in 1986, when 13 climbers died in a series of incidents.
An Austrian climber at K2 base camp said he was aware of 12 deaths resulting from Friday’s avalanche, although the figure was not confirmed by Pakistani officials. “The mood at the camp is obviously very low,” Christian Stangl was quoted as saying by Austria’s APA news agency. “Every expedition has lost at least one or two people.”
A Swedish climber who survived said there were too many inexperienced climbers on the mountain, widely acknowledged as much harder to climb than Everest despite being a few hundred metres shorter. “The accident could have been prevented. These mountains lure out way too inexperienced and naive people,” Fredrik Straeng told the Swedish news agency TT.
Straeng, who put the death toll at 11, said he had “carried down both living and dead people from the mountain” after the disaster, adding that he feared for his own life when a Pakistani porter fell on top of him.
One Spanish mountaineer who saw the doomed climbers as he was heading down the peak said they may have begun their ascent too late in the day. “They were far from me, hours away, but they were not turning around,” Alberto Zerain told the online edition of the Spanish newspaper El Mundo. “But then I thought, they know what they are doing,” said Zerain.
Missing Irishman Gerard McDonnell, 37, an Alaska-based oil worker who has climbed Everest, was given up for dead by experienced mountaineering friend Pat Falvey.
Norwegian media reported that Rolf Bae, 33, died in the disaster, while his wife was reportedly trying to make her way down with two other Norwegians.
Italian climbers Achille Compagnoni and Lino Lacedelli first scaled K2 on July 31, 1954. Between that first ascent and 2007, there were 284 successful ascents and 66 fatalities. In the same period, Everest was summited 3,681 times, with 210 deaths.