Pakistani helicopters have rescued two Dutch climbers from a group that lost 11 members over the weekend on the world’s second-highest mountain, K2.
Rescue climbers have reached an Italian mountaineer and are helping him to an advance camp high on the mountain slopes, Reuters news agency said.
About 25 climbers reached the summit on Friday but nine died on descent after an avalanche swept away their ropes.
Earlier, on the ascent, two climbers fell to their deaths.
Many regard the 8,611m (28,251ft) peak as the world’s most difficult to climb.
In the deadliest day in K2’s history, the avalanche occurred when a chunk from an ice pillar snapped away on a feature called the Bottleneck.
Several climbers were swept to their deaths; others froze to death after they were stranded high on the mountain.
Cpt Azeemullah Baig said a Pakistani army helicopter had already picked up the two Dutch climbers.
“Thanks to Almighty Allah, the rescue operation has started this morning,” he told Reuters news agency.
Four rescue climbers reached Italian mountaineer Marco Confortola after attempts to reach him by helicopter were called off in bad weather, Pakistani guide Sultan Alam told Reuters news agency from the K2 base camp.
The rescuers were guiding Mr Confortola to the advanced base camp 6,000 metres up the slopes of K2.
The head of an Italian mountaineering group who spoke to Mr Confortola by satellite phone said his feet were in “very bad” shape from frostbite but that he could still walk and that his hands were in good condition.
Mr Confortola’s brother also spoke to the stranded climber.
“Up there it was hell,” Ansa news agency quoted Mr Confortola telling his brother Luigi.
“During the descent, beyond 8,000 metres (26,000 feet), due to the altitude and the exhaustion I even fell asleep in the snow and when I woke up I could not figure out where I was”.
The Death Zone
The two rescued Dutchmen are being treated for frostbite in a Pakistani military hospital.
“Everything was going well to Camp Four and on [the] summit attempt everything went wrong,” one of the Dutchmen, Wilco Van Rooijen, told Associated Press news agency.
He said some ropes had been laid in the wrong position – a mistake which took several valuable hours to correct, delaying the summit push until just before darkness.
As climbers descended from the peak in the dark, the ice pillar collapsed, sweeping away climbers and stranding others in the high-altitude level known as the Death Zone – where there is not enough oxygen to support life.
Pakistani authorities said three South Koreans, two Nepalis, two Pakistani porters, and French, Serbian, Norwegian and Irish climbers had died on the mountain.
Expedition organisers only learned of the avalanche after a group of climbers arrived back at the mountain’s base camp on Saturday evening.
Reports from the mountain’s base camp say two separate parties of Serbian and Norwegian climbers were able to make it back to base camp.
The Serbians said they buried their team member as it was impossible to bring his body back. The Norwegians said their companion was lost in the avalanche.
Only a few hundred people have climbed K2 and dozens have died in the attempt.
The fatality rate for those who reach the summit at 27% is about three times higher than that for Mount Everest.
One of the worst single-day death tolls was on Everest on 11 May 1996, when eight people died in summit attempts.
Six people fell to their deaths or disappeared during a storm on K2 on 13 August 1995.
The summit of K2 was first reached by two Italians, Lino Lacedelli and Achille Compagnoni, on 31 July 1954.
Do you know anyone involved in any of the expeditions or have any information about them? Have you ever attempted to climb K2?
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