Renowned Nepalese Mountaineer Nirmal Purja Among 10 Missing In Pak Avalanche

World-renowned Nepalese mountaineer Nirmal Purja is among 10 feared missing after an avalanche on Pakistan's Broad Peak.

The Alpine Club of Pakistan has confirmed that no contact has been established with the climbers since the avalanche struck on Thursday. 

Nirmal Purja, MBE, is one of three record-breaking mountaineers - Nirmal 'Nimsdai' Purja, MBE, Mingma David Sherpa and Tejan Gurung- who run the mountaineering company Elite Exped, which specialises in delivering tailored guiding experiences on the world's highest mountains.

Born in Nepal, Nimsdai, as he is popularly known, had a distinguished 16-year military career, spending six years in the elite Gorkha regiment, and 10 years with the UK Special Forces (SBS). He's now become a truly historic figure in the world of mountaineering, with an ever-growing list of climbing records under his belt.

According to local mountaineering bodies, the avalanche hit as the team of mountaineers led by Nirmal Purja were moving between Camp 2 and Camp 3 for a summit push. Nine mountaineers along with Nirmal Purja were part of the expedition and their whereabouts are still uncertain.

According to local reports the avalanche struck around noon on Thursday in Pakistan's Karakoram Range. There has been no communication since the avalanche struck and helicopter rescue efforts were also delayed due to poor weather in the region.

Search helicopters are on standby at Skardu and are being deployed if the weather provides a window to launch rescue operations. Some reports on the avalanche have quoted that two bodies have been located but they are yet to be identified. What has provided a glimmer of hope to rescuers is the report that some movement has been reported from Nirmal Purja's tracking device after the avalanche was reported.

The mountaineering fraternity is in a state of shock after the news as avalanches usually result in fatalities during mountaineering expeditions. Parth Upadhayay, a friend of Nirmal Purja told NDTV, "If anyone can survive this it is Nimsdai. He is a fighter. After seeing the movement on the tracker device, it gives us hope and we are praying for good news for him and all mountaineers who are affected in the avalanche." 

Upadhayaya spoke to Nirmal Purja on Sunday to wish him for his birthday said he was very excited about this expedition as he was on his way to become the first person to complete a of climbing all the 8000+ peaks thrice. 

Broad Peak is an 8051-metre peak in the Karakoram Range spanning Golgotha-Baltistan in Pakistan and Xinjiang in China. It is located around 8km from the K2 peak, the second highest mountain peak in the world.