“The Alpine Club of Pakistan (ACP) has received deeply concerning reports of an avalanche that struck a team of climbers on Broad Peak (8,047m) in the Karakoram mountain range around midday today,” the Pakistani mountaineering association announced on Instagram. According to the ACP, ten members of an international team attempting to summit the world’s twelfth-highest mountain are missing.
Five of the missing are Nepalese, including Nirmal Purja, it said. There has also been no contact with Sohail Sakhi of Pakistan, who was part of the group, since the avalanche struck.
Swept down several hundred meters?
Pakistani media published Nirmal Purja’s GPS data, which initially showed an altitude of around 6,600 meters; the next data point lies several hundred meters lower down the mountain at the end of a straight line. This suggests that he may have been swept away by the avalanche.
“Every possible effort is being made to ensure that helicopter support and all available rescue resources are mobilized at the earliest opportunity, subject to weather and operational conditions.,” the ACP stated.
Purja’s success on Gasherbrum II was his 57th on an eight-thousander
Nirmal Purja is one of the stars of Nepalese mountaineering. In 2019, the former soldier in the British Gurkha Regiment made headlines worldwide when he climbed all 14 eight-thousanders in six months and six days – using bottled oxygen, climbing with strong Sherpa companions, using extensive infrastructure.
In 2021, “Nimsdai” was among the ten Nepalese climbers who succeeded in the first winter ascent of K2. According to his own account, Purja was the only one to climb without a breathing mask. A few days ago, the 43-year-old scaled Gasherbrum II. It was his 57th eight-thousander summit success, the 29th without bottled oxygen.
Sohail Sakhi is part of a new generation of strong and self-confident Pakistani mountaineers. He hails from the Hunza Valley and has already summited four of his home country’s five eight-thousanders: K2, Nanga Parbat, and Gasherbrum I and II -all without bottled oxygen. In 2025, he climbed Nanga Parbat solo; on K2 that same season, he was part of the rope-fixing team – as he was this past spring on Kangchenjunga in Nepal, the world’s third-highest mountain.
Update 31 July, 10 a.m.: According to media reports from Pakistan and Nepal, four bodies have been recovered so far. The Alpine Club of Pakistan reports that two of the deceased have been identified: Nadhira Al Harthy from Oman and Pur Bahadur, known as “Yukta” Gurung from Nepal. Al Harthy had stood on the summit of Mount Everest in 2019, becoming the first woman from Oman to do so. Yukta Gurung had climbed twelve of the 14 eight-thousanders. He reached the summit of Everest ten times.
The helicopter rescue operation for the other missing climbers is underway. There is still hope for survivors. Mingma David Sherpa, director of the tour operator Elite Exped and a member of the Nepalese Parliament, posted on Facebook that Nirmal Purja’s GPS tracker had shown “signs of movement” this morning.