A massive avalanche has struck an international mountaineering expedition on Broad Peak (8,047m) in Pakistan’s Karakoram range, leaving renowned Nepali climber Nirmal “Nims” Purja and nine others missing. Search and rescue teams have since recovered four bodies, while efforts to reach the remaining climbers continue amid difficult weather and terrain.
What Happened
The avalanche struck around midday on Thursday, July 30, below Camp III at an altitude of roughly 6,600 metres, sweeping away a 10-member team that included climbers and high-altitude guides from Nepal, Pakistan, the United States, Oman and China. The team lost all communication in the moments after the slide, and GPS tracking data showed a rapid, sudden descent consistent with a large-scale avalanche event.
The Alpine Club of Pakistan (ACP) said it received the first reports of the disaster from the mountain but that word did not reach officials at base camp until nearly 13 hours later – around 10 p.m. – a delay that cost precious daylight hours when a helicopter rescue might otherwise have been possible before dark.
Four separate expedition teams were operating on Broad Peak at the time: Pakistani guide Sohail Sakhi with American client Mallory Geis; Purja’s own Elite Exped team; an Imagine Nepal group; and a team from Seven Summit Treks.
The Missing Climbers
According to the Alpine Club of Pakistan and expedition operators, the ten climbers caught in the avalanche were:
- Nirmal Purja “Nimsdai” – Nepali mountaineer and expedition leader
- Yukta Gurung (Pur Bahadur Gurung) – Nepali guide
- Nima Sherpa – Nepali climber
- Gyalu Sherpa – Nepali climber
- Nawang Thendu Sherpa – Nepali climber
- Kili Pemba Sherpa – Nepali climber
- Sohail Sakhi – Pakistani guide, from Hunza
- Mallory Geis – American climber
- Nadhira Al Harthy – Omani climber
- Wang Zhong – Chinese climber
Bodies Recovered
By Friday, rescue teams working overland had recovered four bodies from the base of the avalanche debris, opposite Broad Peak Base Camp, after the victims were swept several hundred metres down the mountain. According to Karakoram Expedition, the bodies recovered are believed to be those of Pakistani climber Sohail Sakhi, Nepali guides Kili Pemba Sherpa and Pur Bahadur Gurung (known as “Yukta”), and Chinese climber Wang Zhong. Formal identification was still pending as of Friday.
This followed an earlier report from Seven Summit Treks general manager Thaneshwar Guragai that two bodies had been located at the site during an initial overland search, after poor weather grounded helicopters and forced rescuers to bring some climbers swept downhill back to base camp on foot. Guragai said Pakistani rescue operations tend to move more slowly than in Nepal because they rely primarily on military helicopters with lengthy clearance procedures, rather than the rapid private helicopter response common in Nepal.
A Flicker of Hope for Purja
One development has offered a measure of hope amid the grim search. Mingma Gyabu Sherpa – Purja’s business partner at Elite Exped and a member of Nepal’s House of Representatives – said Friday that data from Purja’s satellite tracking device showed his location had continued to change after the avalanche, rather than remaining static.
“Initially, it appeared that he had been swept downhill by the avalanche,” Mingma told Kathmandu-based Kantipur. “But after the point where the tracking had stopped, the location appears to have shifted again.” He added that reports suggested one climber’s position appeared to be near the base of the mountain, and that a Pakistani and a Nepali climber had set out overland to verify the signal.
Karakoram Expedition separately said the family of one of its missing team members had also detected a slight movement signal on a Garmin InReach satellite tracker following the avalanche, raising cautious hopes that at least one climber may have survived.
Despite this, officials have cautioned that the odds are narrowing. Guragai told reporters that the chances of finding climbers alive were diminishing given the scale of the avalanche and the time elapsed without contact.
Rescue Operation Underway
A helicopter search and rescue mission departed from Skardu at 8 a.m. Pakistan Standard Time on Friday, a day after the avalanche. Two helicopters carrying Pakistan’s leading high-altitude climbers, Sirbaz Khan and Sherzad Karim, flew out with rescue equipment and supplemental oxygen to mount an aerial search for the six climbers still unaccounted for. A separate ground rescue team was being mobilized from K2 Base Camp to continue searching on foot, according to Ayaz Ahmed Shigri, Secretary General of the Alpine Club of Pakistan.
Karrar Haidri, senior vice-president of the Alpine Club, said the operation had been hampered from the outset by bad weather that initially grounded aircraft.
Who Is Nirmal Purja
Nirmal “Nims” Purja, 42, is one of the most celebrated high-altitude climbers of his generation. A former Gurkha and British Special Forces soldier, he shot to global fame in 2019 after completing the “14 Peaks” challenge – summiting all fourteen of the world’s 8,000-metre mountains – in just over six months, smashing the previous record, which had stood at nearly eight years. His achievement was chronicled in the Netflix documentary 14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible.
He is the co-founder of the guiding company Elite Exped and founder of the Nimsdai Foundation, which runs educational and environmental programs in Nepal and has funded shelters for porters working on Everest expeditions.
Purja was reportedly attempting to become the first person to complete all fourteen 8,000-metre peaks twice – a “Hat Trick Campaign” – and had summited Gasherbrum II without supplemental oxygen just over a week before the Broad Peak avalanche, on July 21. Broad Peak was to be followed by an attempt on Cho Oyu. In a social media post before setting out, Purja wrote that he took “zero mountains for granted,” adding: “The moment my foot leaves basecamp, it’s 100%. Always has been. Always will be.”
About Broad Peak
Broad Peak, known locally as Falchan Kangri, is the world’s twelfth-highest mountain and is generally regarded as one of the less technically demanding of the 8,000-metre peaks, though it remains a serious high-altitude objective prone to avalanche risk, particularly on its upper slopes near Camp III. The mountain has seen previous fatal incidents, including the death of a Russian-American climber in 2021 after a fall near its summit.
What’s Next
This is a developing story. Search and rescue operations are continuing, with helicopters and ground teams working to reach the remaining missing climbers as weather permits. Authorities have not yet confirmed the identities of the four bodies recovered, and the fate of Purja and the rest of the team remains unknown.
