Chances of Ali Sadpara returning alive, says son
“next to none”
Sajid indicated that the three climbers could have had an accident while descending from the K2 ‘Bottleneck,’ considered the most dangerous route of the entire expedition, speaking to the media after the second-day rescue mission in Skardu.
Sajid said, “There is no hope to live [under such harsh conditions] for three straight days,” When I came back from Bottleneck at 8,200 meters, at 11 AM [on Friday], they were climbing up Bottleneck. I’m sure they made the K2 summit, and they may have had an accident on their way back, so they’re missing,’ he added.
Two more international mountaineers, Ali Sadpara, are missing.
Pakistani helicopters returned unsuccessfully on Saturday afternoon after they pursued Sadpara and the other mountaineers with him. In their effort to find the missing people, the helicopters reportedly flew to a height of 7,000 meters in the afternoon.
They were not able to find any clues to their location, however. Owing to deteriorating weather and light conditions, they have had to return.
On Friday, Sadpara and his team were confirmed to have successfully climbed the 8,611-meter K2, the second-highest mountain globally, late Friday, a month after their first attempt failed. However, since then, their support teams have warned that the climbers’ status is still uncertain, and there was no contact from their end.
Search efforts are expected to resume on Thursday for mountaineers Muhammad Ali Sadpara, John Snorri, and John Pablo Mohr, after a minor improvement in the weather at Skardu.
In operation, a special forward-looking infrared (FLIR) mission will be used by a C-130 aircraft along with four high-altitude porters (HAPs) from Sadpara village.
Over the past four days, the bad weather in the area has hampered on-ground and aerial search attempts for the three mountaineers last seen near Bottleneck on K2 on February 5.
“FLIR will be used for the search mission. High altitude climbers are also engaged for ground search due to any location spotted through the FLIR mission. All efforts are geared up for a search of national hero Ali Sadpara and his brave team including John Snorri of Iceland and JP Mohr,” said a statement by the Inter-Services Public Relations.
Infrared radiation is sensed by the sensors in FLIR cameras and transformed into an image.
Secretary Karrar Haideri of the Alpine Club of Pakistan (ACP) said the four HAPs will be part of the quest mission and are in Skardu: Sadiq Sadpara, Ali Muhammad Sadpara, Ali Raza Sadpara, and Dilawar Sadpara.
He said, “Sadiq and Ali Muhammad, both of whom have experience of 8,000m peaks, are already acclimatized and go above the base camp if the need arises,”
Late on Friday, Ali, Snorri and Mohr lost contact with the base camp and were declared missing on Saturday after their support team stopped receiving messages from them while attempting to climb the second-highest mountain in the world. A search operation was conducted, but due to severe weather, it was continuously hampered.
High altitude climbers Fazal Ali and Shimshal’s Jalal, Imtiaz Hussain, and Skardu’s Akbar Ali are already at basecamp K2.
A day after the climbers were declared missing, Imtiaz and Akbar, who are relatives of the missing Sadpara, arrived at the base camp by helicopter. They climbed up the mountain to search for them but were asked to return to the base camp as the weather began to worsen, and as they were not yet acclimatized, questions arose about their health.
Meanwhile, ACP and mountaineering community members have urged users of the media and social media to respect the families of missing climbers, particularly the Ali Sadpara family, and avoid sharing false or unverified reports.
Muhammad Ali Sadpara Pakistani Mountaineer Last Video Message
