Russian climber goes missing, two injured on Pak Gasherbrum IV mountain

KHAPLU: A Russian climber went missing while two others remained stranded after being critically wounded on the 26,000 feet Gasherbrum IV mountain in northern Pakistan this week, officials confirmed on Sunday, saying that a rescue mission would be launched as soon as weather conditions permitted.

A five-member team of Russian climbers comprising Sergei Nilov, Mikhail Mironov, Alexy Bautin, Sergei Mironov, and Evgeni Lablokov set out on a mission to Gasherbrum IV to retrieve the body of Dmitry Golovchenko, another Russian climber who went missing on the same mountain in 2023.

Karrar Haidri, the secretary of the Alpine Club of Pakistan, said an ice formation, possibly a serac, collapsed on the mountain on Saturday which unleashed a “catastrophic event” for the five-member team.

“Currently, Sergei Nilov is missing, with no information available about his status,” Haidri told a foreign newspaper, adding that the possibility he may still be alive “hangs in the balance.”

“Adding to the tragedy, two of the climbers sustained severe injuries in the incident,” he disclosed. “Their condition is critical, and there is little hope that they will survive beyond the next day, casting a further shadow over the already grim situation.”

Akhtar Shigri, a police official responsible for matters relating to foreign climbers in the northern Shigar district, said Mikhail Mironov and Sergei Mironov were stranded on the mountain after sustaining serious injuries.

He said the other two climbers, Bautin and Lablokov, were safely airlifted by a Pakistan Army helicopter to Skardu on Saturday evening. “And today, the helicopter is also waiting for good weather to search and rescue the other three climbers,” Shigri said.

Hajji Ghulam Muhammad, the CEO of Blue Trek and Tours company that organized the expedition, said the injured climbers were in contact with the other climbers. “However, due to serious injuries, they could not descend as they were climbing in alpine style,” Muhammad told a foreign newspaper.

Nilov, the missing mountaineer, had survived a near-fatal fall from the same mountain in September last year with Golovchenko. Nilov made it back to the base camp from where he was rescued via a helicopter while Golovchenko had gone missing.

Pakistan’s northern Gilgit-Baltistan is a sparsely populated region home to some of the highest peaks in the world and a major tourist destination. Hundreds of tourists visit the region each year for expeditions on various peaks, paragliding and other sports activities.

However, such expeditions frequently turn into tragic events. Last week, Pakistani mountaineer Murad Sadpara succumbed to head injuries whilst descending the Broad Peak Mountain in GB.

This summer, five Japanese climbers and a Brazilian paraglider also lost their lives in Pakistan’s Karakoram mountain range in separate incidents.