{"id":615537,"date":"2026-08-01T18:27:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-01T18:27:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/615537\/"},"modified":"2026-08-01T18:27:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-01T18:27:14","slug":"top-mountaineer-nirmal-purja-among-11-confirmed-dead-after-avalanche-in-pakistan-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/615537\/","title":{"rendered":"Top mountaineer Nirmal Purja among 11 confirmed dead after avalanche in Pakistan \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

A world-renowned Nepali<\/a> mountaineer and former UK Special Forces (UKSF) member has died along with 10 other climbers caught in a deadly avalanche on Pakistan<\/a>\u2019s Broad Peak.<\/p>\n

Nirmal Purja was killed leading an expedition of 10 climbers on the world\u2019s 12th-highest mountain when an avalanche struck at around noon on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Elite Exped, the company Purja cofounded, said in a statement: \u201cToday it is with profound sadness and immense heartbreak that we confirm that Nirmal \u2018Nimsdai\u2019 Purja tragically lost his life following the avalanche on Broad Peak.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have also received confirmation that other members of the expedition sadly did not survive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Purja made history in 2019 after climbing all 14 of the world\u2019s peaks over 8,000 metres in just over six months. He later led the first team to summit K2, the world\u2019s second-highest mountain, in winter.<\/p>\n

\u201cRecords are made to be broken,\u201d the former Gurkha and UKSF member told the Guardian in 2019. \u201cSomeone one day will come along and be stronger. People are only limited by their imagination. If you don\u2019t dream then you won\u2019t do it. Human beings are capable of doing amazing things.\u201d<\/p>\n

The expedition included five Nepali climbers, as well as US, Pakistani, Omani and Chinese nationals. Another foreign climber was also part of the group, said Karrar Haidri, the vice-president of the Alpine Club of Pakistan.<\/p>\n

Elite Exped also confirmed the deaths of other expedition members, including his climbing partners and guides, Pur Bahadur Gurung (Yukta), a Nepali citizen, and Nima Sherpa.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur deepest thoughts, prayers and heartfelt condolences are with their families, friends and loved ones,\u201d the Elite Exped statement said. \u201cNo words can erase the pain of this unimaginable loss, and we ask that everyone respects their privacy as they grieve.\u201d<\/p>\n

[\u00a0The field marshal remaking Pakistan\u2019s place in the worldOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

On Friday, rescuers had said that four bodies had been found and efforts were under way to retrieve them despite the harsh weather. Among the victims were Nadhira Alharthy, the first Omani to climb Everest, and a US climber, Mallory Geis.<\/p>\n

Trackers carried by the climbers showed a rapid loss of altitude, suggesting the team had been caught in an avalanche. Purja\u2019s tracker, however, shifted location after the initial rapid descent. The GPS data suggested the avalanche occurred close to 9am local time at 6,579 metres (21,585ft), between camps two and three on the west ridge of the 8,047-metre mountain, the most popular ascent route.<\/p>\n

British adventurer Bear Grylls<\/a> said the news of Purja\u2019s death was \u201cheartbreaking for so many climbers around the world who had a relationship with this remarkable and unique man\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"SpencerSpencer Matthews (left) with Nirmal Purja during the filming of the Disney+ documentary Finding Michael, which attempted to retrace the steps of Spencer’s older brother Michael with the help of survivalist Bear Grylls, February 2023. Photograph: Disney+\/PA <\/p>\n

In the 2023 documentary Finding Michael, Purja and Grylls were enlisted to recover the body of Michael Matthews \u2013 the youngest Briton to climb Everest \u2013 who disappeared on the mountain in 1999.<\/p>\n

Purja served in the British military for 16 years, 10 of them in the special forces. In 2018, he was awarded an MBE by the British queen for his achievement in extreme high-altitude mountaineering.<\/p>\n

He also drew plaudits for twice risking his life to help others. The first time was while descending from Annapurna, when he led a rescue of fellow climber Chin Qui Kin, who had been separated from an accompanying expedition and left without food, water or oxygen for 40 hours. Chin later died in hospital.<\/p>\n

Less than a month later, Purja and his team rescued two climbers from a height of 8,400 metres, sacrificing their own supplementary oxygen to the climbers in need.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me it\u2019s not about ego,\u201d he previously told the Guardian. \u201cIt\u2019s about principles. You can\u2019t call yourself a climber and not help in that situation.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A world-renowned Nepali mountaineer and former UK Special Forces (UKSF) member has died along with 10 other climbers…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":615538,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[41],"tags":[74185,9,10,13,14,6,11,12,15,16,8396,5,2214,7,8,65,66,67],"class_list":["post-615537","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world","tag-bear-grylls","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-featured-news","tag-featurednews","tag-headlines","tag-latest-news","tag-latestnews","tag-main-news","tag-mainnews","tag-nepal","tag-news","tag-pakistan","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories","tag-world","tag-world-news","tag-worldnews"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/615537","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=615537"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/615537\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/615538"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=615537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=615537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=615537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}