ISLAMABAD — An investigation has been launched into the loss of life of a Pakistani porter close to the height of the world’s most treacherous mountain, a Pakistani mountaineer stated Saturday, following allegations that dozens of climbers keen to achieve the summit had walked previous the person after he was gravely injured in a fall.
The accusations surrounding occasions on July 27 on K2, the world’s second-highest peak, overshadowed a file established by Norwegian climber Kristin Harila and her Sherpa information Tenjin. By climbing K2 that day, they grew to become the world’s quickest climbers, scaling the world’s 14 highest mountains in 92 days.
Harila rejected any duty for the loss of life of the porter, Mohammed Hassan, a 27-year-old father of three who slipped and fell off a slim path in a very harmful space of K2 generally known as the bottleneck. In an Instagram submit Friday, she wrote that she felt “offended at how many individuals have been blaming others for this tragic loss of life” and that nobody was at fault.
Harila was defending herself towards allegations from two different climbers who have been on K2 that day, Austrian Wilhelm Steindl and German Philip Flaemig. The pair had aborted their climb due to troublesome climate situations, however stated they reconstructed the occasions later by reviewing drone footage.
The footage confirmed dozens of climbers passing a gravely injured Hassan as a substitute of coming to his rescue, Steindl advised The Related Press on Saturday. He alleged that the porter may have been saved if the opposite climbers, together with Harila and her crew, had given up makes an attempt to achieve the summit.
Steindl added that the footage exhibits “a person attempting to rub (Hassan’s) chest, attempting to maintain him heat, to maintain him alive by some means. You possibly can see that the person is determined.”
“We all know by now that this was his buddy, additionally a Pakistani excessive altitude porter,” Steindl advised AP. “And what you additionally see within the drone footage is a line of 70 climbers marching in the direction of the summit.”
“There’s a double commonplace right here. If I or every other Westerner had been mendacity there, every part would have been carried out to avoid wasting them,” Steindl stated. “Everybody would have needed to flip again to deliver the injured particular person again right down to the valley.”
Steindl additionally stated that July 27 was the one day on this season on which situations have been adequate for mountaineers to achieve the summit of K2, which explains why there have been so many climbers who have been so desperate to get to the highest.
“I don’t wish to sort of immediately blame anyone,” Steindl stated. “I’m simply saying there was no rescue operation initiated and that’s actually very, very tragic as a result of that’s truly probably the most regular factor one would do in a scenario like that.”
Harila advised Sky Information that Hassan had been dangling from a rope, head down, after his fall on the bottleneck, which she described as “most likely probably the most harmful a part of K2.” She stated that after about an hour, her crew was capable of pull him again onto the path.
Sooner or later, she and one other particular person from her crew determined to proceed to the highest whereas one other crew member stayed with Hassan, giving him heat water and oxygen from his personal masks, the climber stated.
Harila stated she determined to proceed transferring towards the summit as a result of her ahead fixing crew additionally bumped into difficulties which she didn’t additional element within the interview.
Requested about Hassan’s gear, Harila stated that he didn’t put on a down swimsuit and he didn’t have gloves, nor did he have oxygen. “We didn’t see any signal of both a masks or oxygen tank,” she stated.
In the meantime, an investigation has been launched into Hassan’s loss of life, stated Karrar Haidri, the secretary of the Pakistan Alpine Membership, a sports activities group that additionally serves because the governing physique for mountaineering in Pakistan. The investigation is being carried out by officers within the Gilgit-Baltistan area which has jurisdiction over K2, stated Haidri.
Anwar Syed, the pinnacle of Lela Peak Expedition, the corporate that Hassan was working for, stated he died about 150 meters (490 toes) beneath the summit. He stated a number of folks tried to assist, offering oxygen and heat, to no avail.
Syed stated that due to the bottleneck’s harmful situations, it might not be potential to retrieve Hassan’s physique and hand it to the household. He stated his firm had given cash to Hassan’s household and would proceed to assist, however didn’t elaborate.
Requested about Hassan’s obvious lack of kit, Syed stated the expedition firm pays cash to porters to purchase gear, and that Hassan was paid the agreed upon quantity.
Steindl’s fellow climber, Flaemig, alleged in an interview with the Austrian newspaper Der Commonplace that Hassan had no high-altitude expertise. “He wasn’t geared up correctly. He didn’t have expertise. He was a base camp porter and for the primary time was picked to be a high-altitude porter. He wasn’t certified for this,” he stated.
Steindl visited Hassan’s household and arrange a crowd-funding marketing campaign. After three days, donations reached greater than 114,000 euros ($125,000) Saturday.
“I noticed the struggling of the household,” Steindl advised AP. “The widow advised me that her husband did all this in order that his youngsters would have an opportunity in life, in order that they might go to high school.”
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Grieshaber reported from Berlin.