- Officials say rescue operation has been called off
Rescue operation for the two foreign climbers, missing on the Nanga Parbat peak has been called off as now they have been presumed dead, officials said on Saturday.
Spanish alpinist Alberto Zerain along with Argentine’s Mariano Galvan went missing last Saturday while attempting to scale the 8,125 metre peak from the Mazino route. Muhammad Iqbal, the owner of Summit Karakorum, a tour operating company that had organised the climb at the treacherous peak said that both the climbers adopted the most difficult track to ascend Nanga Parbat.
“Mazino is the most difficult track and as far as I know so far only one climber from Slovakia has been able to climb Nanga Parbat from it,” he said. He said that the search and rescue operation for the two missing mountaineers had been called off after their third fellow, who was present at the base camp and later became part of the rescue team stated that both were presumed dead now.
“He has been hovering around the mountain in the helicopter along with the rescue team on early Saturday. He has confirmed that no signs of life have been spotted on the peak,” he added. Alpine Club of Pakistan’s spokesperson Karrar Haidri said that they had also been communicated that the search and rescue operation for the missing climbers had been called off as they were presumed dead.
Alberto and Galvan were part of the 14-member team of foreign climbers, who had come last week to ascend Nanga Parbat this year. However, bad weather compelled them to return to base camp and delay their attempt for a few more days.
