Rescue teams supported by army on Friday prepared for an operation to rescue two Italian Alpinist climbers stranded three days ago some 7,000 metres up a Himalayan peak. Simon Kehrer and Walter Nones were climbing a new route on Nanga Parbat, altitude 8,126 metres, when their colleague, world-renowned Italian climber Karl Unterkircher, fell into a ravine and they were left stranded.
The two surviving climbers could not find their way back to the base camp since rain and storms had opened up many crevasses, Rashid Ahmad, a spokesman of the expedition's organiser, Pakistani tour operator Hushe Treks and Tours, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa). "We don't know yet whether the rescue work could be started today," he said.
"It all depends on the weather. Last night it was raining there but this morning the weather is improving. If it gets clear the rescue operation will start immediately. Otherwise, we will have to wait. You know weather changes there every five minute," he added.
The death of Unterkircher, who holds the world record of the fastest ascents of Mount Everest and K2, was confirmed by the two survivors. They made contact last time on Wednesday via a satellite phone before its battery ran out. According to Ahmad, Kehrer and Nones were alive but "time is running out for them since they can probably only survive two to three days more on their own."
Two single-engine army helicopters on Friday airlifted two Italian climbers, Silvio Mondinelli and Maurizio Gallo, who had arrived from Milan for the rescue work, from Rawlapindi to Fairy Meadows plains, about one hour walking distance from Nanga Parbat. Rescue efforts were supported by Pakistani soldiers, Ahmad said.
The first priority for the rescue team was to airlift the climbers, an approach expected to create difficulties as the altitude of the rescue location was above the maximum altitude capacity of the helicopters. Another option was to drop supplies to enable to climbers to down until they could be safely picked up, Italian experts said.