Army rescues Slovenian mountaineer from northern areas

ISPR says Kajetan Decman has been airlifted to Skardu for treatment

Pakistan Army aviation helicopters rescued on Tuesday a Slovenian climber stuck at a height of 6,000 meters during an expedition at Karakoram mountain range in the northern areas.

The armed forces responded to a request to save Kajetan Rock Decman, part of a seven-member team working on the expedition, as he suffered ‘high altitude sickness’ in an attempt to reach International Hiking and Altitude Expedition Camp (IHEC), an Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) statement read.

Read: Pakistan Army rescues US mountaineer from K-2

Decman was airlifted to Skardu for treatment where his condition is said to be stable.

On July 8, the army rescued US mountaineer Robert Jackson from K-2 base camp, airlifting him to Skardu for treatment. The 38-year-old was part of a 27-member team on an expedition to summit K-2, having arrived in Pakistan on June 16.

Further, on Monday snow forced Samina Baig and her brother Mirza Ali to retreat as they looked to push on towards Camp 2 on K-2. Samina, who is the youngest Pakistani ever to have climbed Mount Everest, and complete the seven highest summits on seven continents, is attempting to summit the K-2.

On Sunday, they had climbed to camp 1 with a view to head on to Camp 2. But snow on the mountain forced them to go downwards instead of moving up, Samina’s brother Mirza Ali tweeted yesterday.

Read: K-2 summit attempt: Samina Baig retreats to Camp 1 due to snow

A total of five mountaineering teams have reached K-2 base camp so far. Among them is South African-born Swiss explorer and adventurer Mike Horn, who aims to ski down K-2 after summit.

However, most of the teams have decided to move their acclimatization process to neighbouring Broad Peak (8,051m) owing to a number of avalanches on K-2. Avalanches on the mountain have increased following last week’s earthquake in China.