Another Helicopter to be Sent to Search Missing Climbers on K2

JP Mohr, Muhammad Ali and John Snorri [L to R]

Asghar Ali Porikh, the owner of Jasmine Tours, who provided the Base Camp services to the climbers, has confirmed that another round of helicopter recce will be conducted today morning, and if the weather permits, a Field Rescue team will also be sent from the K2 Base Camp.

Meanwhile, according to the last found updates, Sajid Ali Sadpara, the son of Pakistani veteran, Ali Sadpara, is already back to the Base Camp from Camp-3 and reported to be in good shape.

Sajid, with three now-missing climbers, left for the summit push at 1am of 5th February. Sajid, presumably, abandoned his attempt from the Bottleneck since his oxygen cylinder stopped working. He is assumed to be the only member of the team that carried bottled oxygen.

Sajid reported that the three climbers were last seen around the Bottleneck approximately at 10am on 5th February, and all were in good form. He waited for 20 hours in the hope of all remaining members to return to Camp-3 which never happened. In the fear of developing a severe hypoxia, the Base Camp representatives convinced him to descend back. He apparently reached back at Advanced Base Camp around at 3pm (local time) and at the Base Camp, approximately at 5pm on 6th February.

As of 6th February, a Rescue Team was formed, led by Chhang Dawa Sherpa, comprising two other Pakistani HAPs Fazal and Jalal, representing Jasmine Tours. They're also assisting Elia Saikaly for filming his documentary about K2 in Winter.

In a brief exchange with Dream Wanderlust (on 6th February at 10:14 PKT), Dawa informed, "I am in the Rescue Mission, at present. We are just below Sajid's Camp. He is at Camp-3. We, the Sherpas have been told to set out from Base Camp. We have been waiting for John Snorri, Ali Sadpara, and Juan Pablo since yesterday but they haven't returned yet. We are waiting for the helicopter to resume the rescue operation."

After the sudden demise of Bulgarian climber Dr. Atanas Skatov on 5th February and Alex Goldfarb in between 16th to 18th January in the Karakorams, the mountaineering fraternity is awaiting a miracle for their safe return.

Timeline

6th February, 2021 (17:00 PKT) - Sajid came back to the Base Camp at 17:00 PKT after reacing the Advanced Base Camp 2 hrs earlier.

6th February, 2021 - Two rescue choppers of Pakistani Air Force were sent to search the missing climbers. The helicopters could only be fown up to 7000m.

5th February, 2021 - Sajid came back to Camp-3 as his oxygen cylinder was not working and reported that the team was at Bottleneck around 10:00 PKT. Chilean Juan Pablo Mohr, who was on his summit push with Italian Tamara Lunger, joined the trio (Ali and Sajid Sadpara, John Snorri) after Tamara retreated from Camp-3.

5th February, 2021 (7:45 PKT) - No news from the team since they reached Camp-3. The last signal from Snorri's GPS tracker showed they were at 7823m at 7:45 PKT.

5th February, 2021 - The team moved to Camp-3 from Camp-2 at 13:00 PKT and started the final summit push at 01:00 PKT.

3rd February, 2021 - The team had launched their second summit push and moved to Camp-2 from the Base Camp.

24th January, 2021 - The team made the first summit push. They moved from the Base Camp to Camp-3 but retreated from there due to strong wind and came back to the Base Camp next day.

15th January, 2021 - The team moved to Camp-3 from Camp-2 and came back to the Camp-2 and stayed there.

13th January, 2021 - The team again moved up to Camp-2 and stayed there.

4th January, 2021 - The team came back to the Base Camp.

3rd January, 2021 - The team moved up to Camp-2 from Camp-1.

27th December, 2020 - The team again moved up to Camp-1 and stayed there.

17th December, 2020 - The team fixed ropes up to Camp-1 and back to the Base Camp next day.

5th December, 2020 - The team (John Snorri, Muhammad Ali Sadpara and Sajid Ali Sadpara) arrived at the Base Camp of K2.