The bodies of three climbers have been recovered and identified following a deadly avalanche on Broad Peak in Pakistan, a mountain authorities confirmed is part of the Karakoram range and an "eight-thousander" for its apex or more than 8,000 meters. Search and rescue operations continue for the remaining seven individuals initially reported missing after the Thursday incident.
Among those initially reported missing is Nirmal Purja, a British Nepalese expedition leader featured in the 2021 Netflix documentary “14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible.” The Pakistani Army’s communications division confirmed Friday that four bodies had been recovered. However, the Alpine Club of Pakistan later stated that this figure was a miscommunication, and that two bodies and a body part had been found.
Those identified include American mountain climber Sarah Mallory Geis, Nadhira Ahmed Abdullah Al Harthy of Oman, and Pur Bahadur Gurung of Nepal, according to ABC News. Geis, who described herself as a "side quest enthusiast," was reportedly on her first climb of Broad Peak, according to a Pakistani-based mountaineering agency. She had announced earlier this year that she was closing her pilates studio to take "a giant leap of faith into the unknown."
The avalanche reportedly struck the mountain around 12 p.m. local time on Thursday. Authorities in Pakistan's Gilgit-Baltistan territory have had no communication with the missing climbers since. The Alpine Club of Pakistan stated Friday, "Please refrain from declaring anyone dead until rescuers have physically confirmed the situation. The Government of Pakistan, the Government of Gilgit-Baltistan, the Government of Nepal, and the Pakistan Army are all engaged in the rescue mission."
Weather conditions and the extremely rugged terrain have hampered rescue efforts, with high-altitude porters and rescue teams working to retrieve the bodies and transport them to base camp with utmost caution, Gilgit-Baltistan police wrote on Facebook.
Purja, who previously summited Broad Peak in 2019 for the Netflix documentary, set a world record for the fastest ascent of the world’s 14 highest mountains. He served in the British military for 16 years and in 2024 repeated his record-setting feat without supplemental oxygen. Broad Peak was reportedly the penultimate mountain he needed to climb in his second quest to scale all 14 "eight-thousanders" without supplemental oxygen. His mountaineering gear company, Nimsdai Store, stated it is supporting ongoing rescue efforts and attempting to determine what happened, asking for patience until verified information is available.
Dozens of people have died attempting to summit Broad Peak since it was first scaled in 1957.