Veteran mountaineer Purja’s body found three days after avalanche on Broad Peak in PoK
The body of renowned mountaineer Nirmal Purja has been recovered on Broad Peak in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir following a fatal avalanche. Rescue operations are ongoing to locate the remaining five climbers from the ten-member expedition team.
Why it matters
The death of a world-record-holding mountaineer highlights the extreme risks associated with high-altitude climbing and the logistical challenges of rescue operations in the Karakoram range.
The body of veteran Nepalese-British mountaineer Nirmal Purja was found on Sunday (August 2, 2026), three days after he and nine fellow climbers were swept away in an avalanche on Broad Peak, located in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir’s Gilgit-Baltistan.
The Alpine Club of Pakistan (ACP) said the 43-year-old mountaineer’s body was found at an altitude of around 5,700 metres.
So far, the bodies of five climbers have been recovered, and efforts are underway to locate the remaining five, it said.
"The ground rescue team has reached Nirmal Purja ‘Nims Dai’ at approximately 5,700m on Broad Peak, where three additional bodies have also been sighted, though their identities remain unconfirmed,” the ACP said.
The ground team will bring the bodies down to the Japanese camp, it said, adding that recovery efforts continue under extremely difficult terrain conditions.
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