Omani legend, US novice: Pakistan recovers bodies from Broad Peak

Published 1 August 2026 · world

Rescuers are still looking for other missing climbers swept away in an avalanche on the world’s 12th largest peak. Rescuers continue the search for six

Rescuers are still looking for other missing climbers swept away in an avalanche on the world’s 12th largest peak. Rescuers continue the search for six climbers still missing after an avalanche hit Pakistan’s Broad Peak, as officials identified one of the four recovered bodies as Nadhira Al Harthy, the first Omani woman to summit Mount Everest. Pakistani authorities recovered three of the bodies on Friday in harsh weather that hampered flights by search and rescue helicopters, officials said, and identified them as Nepalese climber Pur Bahadur Gurung and American climber Sarah Mallory Geis, as well as Harthy. The officials did not immediately identify the fourth body that was found. The expedition comprised five Nepali climbers, the Omani and American climbers, Pakistani climber Sohail Sakhi, a Chinese climber identified only as Wang, and one other foreign climber, according to the Alpine Club of Pakistan.

The expedition leader was the renowned mountaineer Nirmal Purja, a Nepal-born former soldier in the British army widely known as Nims Dai. He climbed the world’s 14 highest peaks in a record 189 days in 2019, an achievement featured in the Netflix documentary, 14 Peaks: Nothing is Impossible. His record was surpassed in 2023. The climbers were swept away in an avalanche on the 8,051-metre (26,414ft) peak, the world’s 12th-highest mountain, about midday on Thursday. The area in which the search is taking place is “remote and difficult”, said Sajid Hussain, deputy director of the tourism department in Gilgit-Baltistan. Of the world’s 14 highest peaks, eight are in Nepal, five in Pakistan and one in Tibet. Climbing experts say barely more than three dozen mountaineers have climbed all 14 peaks to date.

Broad Peak is considered one of Pakistan’s most challenging climbs. Nepal’s Gurung, known to his friends as Yukta, climbed Everest more times than anyone else from the Gurung community, with 10 successful ascents to his name, Nepal’s Online Khabar noted. He also successfully climbed 12 of the world’s 8,000-metre (26,246ft) peaks. Yukta had also set a record by summiting Pakistan’s K2, the world’s second-highest peak, within 24 hours. He was regularly involved in rescue operations for tourists stranded in the mountains. Oman’s Al Harthy held a master’s degree in geography and previously served as director of the Citizenship Department at Oman’s Ministry of Education, Gulf News reported. In 2019, she became the first Omani woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest, and then the first Omani to climb K2, the world’s second-highest mountain.