FALCON POWERS – A body of one of two Japanese climbers who went missing while climbing a mountain in northern Pakistan was found on Saturday, while the search continues for the other, a local official said.
Ryosuke Hiraoka and Atsushi Taguchi were attempting to scale the 7,027-meter (23,077-foot) Spantik peak in the Karakoram mountain range when they went missing in recent days. “The body of a Japanese climber was found, and the search is ongoing for the other climber,” Shaghar Deputy Commissioner Wali Ullah Falahi told AFP.
He later clarified that the body found was that of Ryosuke Hiraoka.
Falahi said the body was found at an altitude of about 6,200 meters (20,340 feet), about 300 meters below Camp 3, the point from where climbers make their final push to the summit.
The search operation, involving climbers and high-altitude rescue experts, used two Pakistani army helicopters.
The climbers had reached the base camp on June 3 and were attempting to scale the peak without the help of porters.
They were last seen on June 10, and their fellow climbers reported them missing the next day when they did not show up as expected during the climb.
A military helicopter spotted the climbers on Thursday, but the search was suspended due to bad weather conditions.
Spantik, also known as the “Golden Peak,” is described as a “relatively straightforward and direct” summit, according to the website of the adventure tour company that organized the Japanese climbers’ expedition.
Pakistan is home to five of the world’s 14 peaks over 8,000 meters (26,247 feet), including K2, the second-highest mountain in the world.
