Overview
- Rescue teams and Elite Expeditions confirmed on Saturday and Sunday that all ten members of the Broad Peak expedition died after a large avalanche struck their group.
- The avalanche hit the team at roughly 6,600 metres on Thursday and swept climbers several hundred metres down the slope, according to Alpine Club of Pakistan data and GPS trackers.
- Helicopters, army units, drones and high‑altitude ground teams located multiple bodies and carried out recoveries but operations were repeatedly slowed by poor weather, extreme elevation and dangerous terrain.
- The international ten‑person team included climbers from Nepal, Pakistan, the United States, Oman and China and the recovered bodies have been flown to a hospital for formal identification.
- Nirmal Purja was a globally known mountaineer pursuing a project to climb all 14 eight‑thousanders twice without oxygen and his death raises questions about safety on the technically hard, avalanche‑prone Broad Peak and the limits of rescue at those heights.