An investigation has been launched following the dying of a Pakistani porter earlier this week close to the height of the world’s most treacherous mountain, a mountaineer has mentioned.
It follows allegations that dozens of climbers desirous to reach the summit had walked past porter Mohammed Hassan regardless of him laying stricken on the bottom after being gravely injured in a fall.
The accusations surrounding occasions on July 27 on K2, the world’s second-highest peak, overshadowed a record established by Norwegian climber Kristin Harila and her Sherpa information Tenjin. By climbing K2 that day, they grew to become the world’s quickest climbers, scaling the world’s 14 highest mountains in 92 days.
Ms Harila rejected any accountability for Mr Hassan, a 27-year-old father-of-three who slipped and fell off a narrow trail in a particularly dangerous area of K2 referred to as the bottleneck.
In an Instagram publish on Friday, she wrote that she felt ‘offended at how many individuals have been blaming others for this tragic dying’ and that no-one was at fault.
Footage appeared to indicate dozens of climbers passing a gravely injured Mr Hassan as an alternative of coming to his rescue on the climb up K2 on July 27
Dozens of climbers make their approach up K2 on July 27, showing to cross by the stricken Mr Hassan
Ms Harila was defending herself in opposition to allegations from two different climbers who had been on K2 that day, Austrian Wilhelm Steindl and German Philip Flaemig. The pair had aborted their climb due to troublesome climate circumstances, however mentioned they reconstructed the occasions later by reviewing drone footage.
The footage appeared to indicate dozens of climbers passing a gravely injured Mr Hassan as an alternative of coming to his rescue. He alleged that the porter may have been saved if the opposite climbers, together with Ms Harila and her workforce, had given up makes an attempt to succeed in the summit.
‘There’s a double commonplace right here. If I or another Westerner had been mendacity there, all the things would have been performed to save lots of them,’ Mr Steindl informed Related Press. ‘Everybody would have needed to flip again to convey the injured particular person again right down to the valley.’
Ms Harila informed Sky Information that Mr Hassan had been dangling from a rope, head down, after his fall on the bottleneck, which she described as ‘most likely probably the most harmful a part of K2’. She mentioned that after about an hour, her workforce was capable of pull him again onto the path.
Sooner or later, she and one other particular person from her workforce determined to proceed to the highest whereas one other workforce member stayed with Mr Hassan, giving him heat water and oxygen from his personal masks, the climber mentioned.
Ms Harila mentioned she determined to proceed transferring in the direction of the summit as a result of her ahead fixing workforce additionally bumped into difficulties which she didn’t additional element within the interview.
Requested about Mr Hassan’s gear, Ms Harila mentioned that he didn’t put on a down swimsuit and he didn’t have gloves, nor did he have oxygen. ‘We didn’t see any signal of both a masks or oxygen tank,’ she mentioned.
In the meantime, an investigation has been launched into Mr Hassan’s dying, mentioned Karrar Haidri, the secretary of the Pakistan Alpine Membership, a sports activities organisation that additionally serves because the governing physique for mountaineering in Pakistan.
This picture, used extensively in Pakistan media information reviews, is believed to indicate Mohammed Hassan earlier than he died on K2 final month
Climbers had been simply 1,200 ft from the summit of K2, the second tallest mountain on this planet
The video exhibits clouds a number of thousand ft under them, revealing simply how excessive they had been when the footage was taken
The investigation is being carried out by officers within the Gilgit-Baltistan area which has jurisdiction over K2, mentioned Mr Haidri.
Anwar Syed, the top of Lela Peak Expedition, the corporate dealing with Ms Harila’s expedition, mentioned Mr Hassan died about 150 metres under the summit. He mentioned a number of folks tried to assist, offering oxygen and heat, to no avail.
Mr Syed mentioned that due to the bottleneck’s harmful circumstances, it might not be attainable to retrieve Mr Hassan’s physique and hand it to the household. He mentioned his firm gave cash to Mr Hassan’s household and would proceed to assist, however didn’t elaborate.
Requested about Mr Hassan’s obvious lack of kit, Mr Syed mentioned the expedition firm pays cash to porters to purchase gear, and that Mr Hassan was paid the agreed upon quantity.
Norwegian mountaineer Kristin Harila, 37, and Nepali mountaineer Tenjen (Lama) Sherpa, 35, holding the flags of their international locations, arrive on the airport after turning into the world’s quickest climbers to scale all peaks above 8,000 meters within the shortest time
K2 – pictured from overlooking city Askole within the Gilgit–Baltistan area of Pakistan – gained notoriety because the ‘Savage Mountain’ after American mountaineer George Bell descended from the height in 1953
Mr Steindl’s fellow climber, Mr Flaemig, alleged in an interview with the Austrian newspaper Der Commonplace that Mr Hassan had no high-altitude expertise. ‘He wasn’t geared up correctly. He didn’t have expertise. He was a base camp porter and for the primary time was picked to be a high-altitude porter. He wasn’t certified for this,’ he mentioned.
Mr Steindl visited Mr Hassan’s household and arrange a crowdfunding marketing campaign. After three days, donations reached greater than 114,000 euro (£98,000) on Saturday.
‘I noticed the struggling of the household,’ Mr Steindl informed AP. ‘The widow informed me that her husband did all this in order that his youngsters would have an opportunity in life, in order that they may go to high school.’
Supply: | This text initially belongs to Dailymail.co.uk
