GILGIT: A two-member expedition team, comprising Polish mountaineer Tomek Mackiewicz and Frenchwoman Elisabeth Revol, appears to have gone missing while trying to scale Nanga Parbat, according to sources.

They said that nobody had been able to contact the two climbers once the pair had reached an altitude of 8,000 metres on Thursday.

The severing of communication with the team at such a high altitude was considered to be dangerous for the mountaineers, the sources said.

The two-member team attempting to reach the summit of Nanga Parbat in winter had started their expedition on Jan 8, the sources said.

The Polish media said the two mountaineers had reached an altitude of 7,300 metres and wanted to reach the summit on Thursday. They said that people at the base camp were extremely concerned about the safety of the two climbers.

Published in Dawn, January 26th, 2018