GILGIT: Bodies of Pakistani climber Mohammad Ali Sadpara, John Snorri of Iceland and Juan Pablo Mohr of Chile were found near the bottleneck of K2 on Monday, about five months after they went missing during their winter ascent of the killer mountain in February.

Sajid Ali Sadpara, the son of legendary Mohammad Ali Sadpara and Canadian Filmmaker Elia Saikaly had started K2 summit to search for the missing climbers.

However, the bodies were spotted by a foreign expedition team, which also comprised Nepali sherpas.

According to a press release issued by Karrar Haidri, secretary Alpine Club of Pakistan, help of the Army Aviation was sought in bringing down the bodies.

Mr Haidri said John Snorri’s body would be dispatched to Iceland on the request by his wife, Lina. He said the mother and a sister of John Pablo had already decided to take his body to their country.

According to foreign media, two bodies have so far been found at around 300 meters above the Camp 4 of K2.

MS BAIG CALLS OFF K2 MISSION: Climber Samina Baig, through her official Facebook page on Monday announced that she had called off the K2 summit push and expedition.

She said: “Tomorrow (Tuesday) was the moment to go for the summit push on the mighty K2, however, a series of incidents on Broad Peak and an avalanche killing British legendary mountaineer Rick Allen the other day forced her to abandon the summit push.”

“While climbing above Camp 1, we nearly got hit by rocks multiple times, the extremely warm conditions made things very dangerous for me and my team.”

She continued: “Assessing the danger and uncertainty on the mountain above, I was mentally very disturbed, as on one hand I had the summit as my dream, and on the other, was the safety of my life and my team. Hence I made the most difficult decision to call off the summit push and expedition.”

“I know the summit of K2 means the whole world for a mountaineer, but I believe safety is the most important not only for me but the people with me on the mountain,” said Ms Baig.

Special Communications Organisa­tion had sponsored the adventure.

Published in Dawn, July 27th, 2021