Efforts to locate two Polish climbers missing on a Himalayan peak have proven unsuccessful until now, a tour operator said Thursday, amid growing concerns about their fate. Maciej Berbeka and Tomasz Kowalski went missing on their descent from 8,047-metre Broad Peak after they along with Artur Malek and Adam Bielecki on Tuesday accomplished what the Polish expedition says was the first winter ascent of the peak.
"High-altitude Pakistani porters sent on a search mission have found no traces," Karrar Haidri of the Alpine Club of Pakistan told dpa. "A decision to employ a helicopter is yet to come from the Polish team." Another official of the club Asghar Ali Porik expressed fears about the Poles' survival. "They have no food and camping gear, while the temperature plunges to minus 35 degrees centigrade at night."
No contact had been made with Berbeka since early Wednesday, and a worker at the base camp later spotted a figure in the vicinity of crevasses that could be Berbeka, according to the Polish Winter Himalayan Mountaineering programme's website. Kowalski had reported breathing problems and general fatigue in his last contact with the base camp Wednesday morning.
The website said Malek and Bielecki had reached the base camp and their "physical condition is fine." Pakistan hosts several of the eight-thousand-metre tall peaks in the Himalayas, among them the Broad Peak - the 12th highest mountain in the world.