Alpinist dies as avalanche hits K2 camp
GILGIT: The body of local mountaineer Iftikhar Hussain, who died on K2, was brought to his hometown, Skardu, on Saturday.
Mr Hussain lost his life when his four-member international expedition team was caught in an avalanche on the world’s second-highest peak.
Senior vice president of the Alpine Club of Pakistan (ACP), Karrar Haidri, told Dawn that the avalanche struck Camp 1 on K2 — located about 500m above the base camp — at approximately 12:30pm on Friday.
The international team was returning from Camp 2 during their rotation for the summit when it got caught in the avalanche.
Mr Hussain, a high-altitude porter from Sadpara in Skardu, lost his life in the incident while a foreign climber sustained minor injuries.
Two other team members successfully returned to the Advance Base Camp, Mr Haidri said in a statement.
Other than Mr Hussain, the team included climbers Dawa Finjo Sherpa and Dawa Geljen Sherpa from Nepal, and high-altitude porter Niaz Ali from Skardu.
The deceased mountaineer’s body and Mr Finjo, the injured Nepali climber, were brought from the K2 base camp to Skardu by Army Aviation helicopters on Saturday, tour operator Syed Anwar confirmed to Dawn.
Mr Finjo was in stable condition and undergoing treatment at a government hospital in Skardu.
Two helicopters of the Pakistan Army Aviation Corps took part in the operation, Mr Anwar said.
The expedition outfitter submitted a formal request to ACP President Major General Irfan Arshad and Askari Aviation for a helicopter operation to repatriate the deceased following the incident.
The army’s General Headquarters approved the request on humanitarian grounds.
Published in Dawn, July 20th, 2025