Two Japanese climbers go missing on K2: official

Two Japanese climbers went missing while attempting to scale the 8,611-metre-tall K2 peak, the second-highest mountain in the world, on Saturday morning.

Shigar Deputy Commissioner (DC) Waliullah Falahi said that Japanese climbers Kazuya Hirade and Kenro Nakajima fell down from a height of 7,500m, west of K2.

He said army helicopters conducted a search operation in the area, adding that two military helicopters flew from Skardu and searched for the climbers at the peak.

He said they spotted the fallen climbers below the 100m mark but it was observed that the men had no movement.

The DC said the helicopters could not land or hover at the altitude, adding that a ground rescue team would be prepared to retrieve the two men. He said it was not known if either of them was alive or dead.

Meanwhile, 12 Pakistanis, one Russian and two Nepalese climbers summited Broad Peak (8,051m) on Saturday morning in a short window with good weather.

During summit pushes at K2 and Gasherbrum-I, climbers reached a decisive stage days before the end of climbing season at the Karakoram range, aiming to reach the summits on Sunday.