KHAPLU, Pakistan, Aug 12, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - A Pakistani mountain climber who
helped retrieve a dead body in a daring rescue mission earlier this month
died during an expedition, the country's climbing association, said Monday.

Murad Sadpara was struck on the head by a rock at the weekend as he descended
Broad Peak mountain, the 12th highest in the world at 8,051 metres (26,414
feet), while supporting an expedition with a Portuguese climber.

"His death is a sobering reminder of the extreme risks involved in high-
altitude climbing, where the line between life and death is often perilously
thin," Karrar Haidri, the head of the Alpine Club of Pakistan, told AFP.

A rescue team confirmed his death on Monday, after efforts to reach him over
the weekend were hampered by poor weather and logistical challenges.

Sadpara, who was in his early 30s, hailed from a mountain village renowned
for its highly skilled porters who regularly support record-breaking
expeditions.

A little more than a week before his death, Sadpara and four other teammates
successfully retrieved the body of Muhammad Hassan Shigri from the extreme
altitude of 8,200 metres on K2 in a mission the Alpine Club described as the
first of its kind on the world's second-highest mountain.

A year earlier, Sadpara was part of a team that retrieved the body of an
Afghan climber from the mountain's Camp 3, the first time a body was brought
back from K2.

Five foreign climbers have fallen to their deaths in separate incidents on
Pakistan mountains this summer climbing season.