ISLAMABAD: Azerbaijani mountaineer rescued a teacher stuck at an altitude of 7,500 meters in Pakistan.The Pakistani climber stranded at Nanga Parbat due to snow blindness has safely reached the base camp after five days, Alpine Club of Pakistan Secretary Karrar Haidri has confirmed.The 45-year-old mountaineer, Asif Bhatti, was stranded at Camp 4 after suffering from snow blindness as he attempted to summit the 8,126m-high mountain on Sunday 02 July 2023.
Pakistani media reported with reference to Alpine Club that Mr. Bhatti, a university teacher by profession, was pushing for the summit with a team of foreign climbers when he got stranded at Camp 4 — an altitude of 7,500m.He communicated with people at the base camp through radio and sought help. Bhatti was not able to move due to snow blindness even though he was physically fit.
According to the Diamer deputy commissioner, an Azerbaijani climber, Israfil Ashurlu, who was climbing the peak, contacted Bhatti on Monday. He abandoned his summit and helped Bhatti to descend.They started the descent on Tuesday and reached Camp 3 by night. A ground rescue mission was also preparing to help Bhatti and was waiting for a helicopter to reach Camp 2 as helicopters can’t fly beyond that height.
Since the helicopter couldn’t fly due to bad weather conditions, the two-member team started climbing Nanga Parbat from the base camp to join the two climbers descending from Camp 3.The four met on Wednesday and the injured climber was brought down to Camp 2 by night.
On Thursday 06 July morning, Pakistan Army helicopters flew from Skardu to Nanga Parbat for a rescue mission but the attempt was again hampered by inclement weather.Subsequently, the four climbers themselves managed to reach the base camp on Thursday evening.Bhatti was taken to Skardu by an army helicopter.
Asif Khoja, Bhatti’s social media manager, thanked the rescuers on behalf of Bhatti, his family and friends.In a statement, Khoja hailed the “heroic accomplishment” of the Azerbaijani climber who aborted his summit push.Mountaineer Sajid Ali Sadpara also hailed the “brave efforts” of the rescuers.
Polish climber fell victim to the treacherous mountain
The Nanga Parbat expedition proved ominous not only for the Pakistani and the Azeri climbers, a Polish climber Pawel Tomasz Kopec also fell victim to the treacherous mountain and died because of the acute altitude sickness.
Secretary of the Alpine Club of Pakistan (APC) Karrar Haidri in an update on Tuesday revealed that Pawel Tomasz Kopec died due to acute altitude sickness after conquering the treacherous Nanga Parbat.
“Kopec and his two compatriots – Piotr Krzyzowski and Waldemar Kowalewski summited Nanga Parbat on Sunday,” said Haidri adding “They achieved their target without supplemental oxygen at different times of the day. Krzyzowski and Kowalewski managed to reach camp 3 at midnight but Kopec faced problems while descending due to harsh weather conditions.”
He eventually lost his life at a height of 7,400 metres after getting exhausted and dehydrated.
The Karakorum Club also shared the news of his death at its official twitter handle.
“Tragic news from #NangaParbat. A mountaineer from #Poland, Powel Kopac, has died at an altitude of 7300 meters on his way back from the summit of Nanga Parbat. According to reports, Paul suffered from acute mountain sickness which resulted in a cardiac attack,” the club said in a tweet.
