At Least Nine Climbers Die On K-2 Avalnche

At least nine mountaineers have perished on K-2, the world's second highest peak, in Pakistan.
On Sunday, the expedition organizers predicted that the toll could rise .
Those confirmed dead included three South Koreans, two Nepalese, along with Serbian, Norwegian, Dutch and French climbers. Unconfirmed reports said one Pakistani had died and several foreign and local climbers were unaccounted for. Catastrophe struck on Friday, when a chunk of ice broke off from a serac, a pillar or cuboid of ice, and tore away fixed lines from a perilous steep gully known as the Bottleneck, above 8,200 metres (26,902 ft). Several expeditions were on the mountain, including a Korean team that was making its descent after summiting the 8,611 metre peak. The Korean team lost five members, including the two Nepalese in the ice fall. Three more fatalities were confirmed by Brigadier Mohammad Akram, vice president of Pakistan's Adventure Foundation. “We don't have names of dead climbers but it has been confirmed that one Dutch, one Norwegian and one French are in the tally of dead,” Akram said. A Serbian climber, identified as Dren Mandic on various mountaineering websites, fell to his death earlier on Friday during the ascent and a Pakistani sherpa was also believed to have died.. “According to the rumours from the various expeditions at the base camp, there should be nine people dead and four still missing,” the head of Italian group, Agostino Da Polenza, who is in Italy, told SkyItalia television. Around a dozen climbers were stranded at Bottleneck, at an altitude known as the “Death Zone” because bodies begin degenerating because of lack of oxygen. A few were either seen or reported to have made their way back to camps, still high on the mountain. The seven surviving members of the Korean team had descended to camps lower down. “We were told that some climbers are still returning to the camps,” Major Farooq Firoz, an army spokesman, said. A Dutch expedition said on its website that three of its team were descending from Camp Three, at 7,350 metres. Two of them were suffering from frostbite. But it said there was no information about a French climber Hugues d'Aubarede, Irish climber Gerard McDonnell, and a third climber identified as Karim. “We're still discussing the possibilities of an operation because the altitude where the accident occured is very high,” army spokesman Major Farooq Firoz said. “We can take a helicopter up there to drop medicines and supplies but carrying out any operation is very difficult,” he said.
Dubbed the "Savage Mountain", K-2 is arguably the hardest climb in the world. The routes to the summit are steeper and more difficult than those to the top of Everest. The weather is also significantly colder and less predictable. Thus, reaching the top of K-2 is the equivalent of winning the Olympic gold in mountaineering. In terms of the number of accidents that had happened on the descent, it is the most deadly mountain in the world.