K2 avalanche kills 9 climbers

ISLAMABAD (AFP) - At least nine mountaineers died near the summit of K2 in the Himalayas when a huge chunk of ice sheared off the mountain and hit them, and several more climbers were missing, Pakistani tour operators said Sunday.

Three South Koreans, two Nepalis, a Dutch, a Serb, a Norwegian and a Pakistani climber were killed on the notoriously treacherous Himalayan peak, the world’s second highest mountain after Mount Everest.

“I can confirm nine dead and three missing,” Nazir Sabir, a celebrated Pakistani climber and chief of Nazir Sabir Expeditions, told AFP.

“It is the worst tragedy on K2 since 1986, when 12 climbers were killed due to exposure,” said Sabir, who scaled K2 in 1981 and Everest in 2000, and whose company organised one of the expeditions.

The missing were from France, Pakistan and Austria, he said.

Mohammad Akram, Vice-President of the company that organised another of the expeditions, told AFP the group was hit by the falling ice as they made their descent on Friday.

An air search had been called in to try to find the missing climbers, he said.

The ice apparently struck an area of the mountain known as the “Bottleneck”, Akram said.

“Three Koreans and two Nepalis have died at Bottleneck,” Ghulam Muhammad, owner of tour operator Blue Sky Trekking and Travel, told AFP. “The liaison officer at base confirmed the casualties.”