The renowned Nepal-born British mountaineer, according to the climber’s expedition company. Nirmal Purja is among those confirmed dead after his team was hit by an avalanche on Pakistan’s Broad Peak.

Purja was leading a 10-person expedition to summit Broad Peak, the world’s 12th tallest mountain located on the border with China, when the avalanche struck at midday on Thursday.

Elite Exped said in a statement on social media that the company “also received confirmation that other members of the expedition sadly did not survive”.

“No words can ease the pain of this unimaginable loss, and we ask that everyone respects [their families’] privacy as they grieve,” it said.

Earlier, the regional government in Pakistan’s Gilgit-Baltistan said three members of the team had been confirmed dead after their bodies or partial remains were recovered from the mountain.

They were identified as Sarah Mallory Geis from Texas, Nadhira Ahmed ​Abdullah Al Harthy from Oman and Nepalese citizen Pur Bahadur Gurung.

Drone footage on Friday showed signs of several more bodies in the search area, officials said, although attempts to reach them on the ground have been hampered by bad weather.

The remains of the three mountaineers recovered so far have been taken to hospital by helicopter for “legal formalities regarding identification”, according to the Information Department of Gilgit-Baltistan, the local region.

The area ‌in which the search is taking place is “remote and difficult”, said Sajid Hussain, deputy director of the tourism department in Gilgit-Baltistan.

The Alpine Club of Pakistan earlier reported that four bodies had been located on the mountain, but later clarified that two bodies had been recovered, as well as a body part of a climber.

Geis, 39, a resident of San Antonio, was an avid traveller who loved being outdoors, according to her Instagram page.

She announced on social media earlier this year that she was closing her pilates studio to take “a giant leap of faith into the unknown to see where life goes. I have a sneaking suspicion there will be lots of helmets, harnesses, and crampons involved”.

With an altitude of 8,051 metres (26,414 feet), Broad Peak is considered one of the most challenging mountains to climb in Pakistan. It saw its first successful ascent in 1957 when an Austrian expedition reached the summit.

The team of 10 was last in contact with their tour operator at 9am local time on Thursday. An avalanche struck the team when they were ascending from Camp II to Camp III at an approximate altitude of 6,600 metres, the commissioner of Gilgit-Baltistan announced late that night.

The rescue mission began at 8.30am on Friday after the tour agency made a formal request to the Pakistan army, which then deployed three helicopters to join the effort.

But later on Friday it was announced that rescue teams were stuck at base camp because of challenging weather conditions. “Due to inclement weather, the search and rescue operation for the day has been suspended and will resume the following day, with additional Sherpas from other expeditions joining the effort,” a statement said.

Alongside Purja, Geis, Al Harthy and Gurung, the other missing members of the expedition to Broad Peak are Wang Zhong, a Chinese climber, Gyalu Sherpa, Nima Sherpa, Kili Pemba, Pur Bahadur Gurung (also known as Yukta) and Suhail Shahzad.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said at a news briefing on Friday that Chinese authorities were “urgently verifying the situation and gathering information” and that they were “willing to offer help based on the requirements of the Pakistan side”.

Purja became widely known following a Netflix documentary chronicling his journey, 14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible, released two years later.

At the time, he said: "It has been a gruelling but humbling six months, and I hope to have proven that anything is possible with some determination, self-belief and positivity."

Purja served in the British military for 16 years, 10 of which were spent in the special forces, and he was awarded an MBE by the late Queen in 2018 for his achievement in extreme high-altitude mountaineering.

Purja, who lived with his wife and three-year-old daughter in Hampshire in southern England, said he was also the first Gurkha to climb Everest while serving in the British military.

In his last post on X, published on Monday, he said he had not intended to climb Broad Peak.

"Initially, the plan was to climb just G2," Purja wrote, referring to Gasherbrum II, another peak in the Karakoram mountain range.

But right before he set off for Pakistan, he realised that if he also managed to climb Broad Peak while he was there, he would have only one more mountain to conquer before becoming the "first person in history to climb all 14 eight-thousanders twice. Without oxygen."

Source: Independent UK/BBC