Quick Facts:
- Event: Avalanche struck a 10 person climbing team on Broad Peak, Pakistan, around midday on Thursday, 30 July 2026
- Status: 4 bodies found and 10 missing after Pakistan avalanche as of Friday, 31 July 2026, with 2 victims formally identified
- Among the missing: Nepali mountaineer Nirmal Purja, known as Nims Dai
- Location: Camp 2 to Camp 3 route, roughly 6,600 metres, Karakoram range, Gilgit Baltistan Last verified: 31 July 2026
An avalanche has struck one of the world’s most dangerous 8,000 metre peaks, and rescue teams in Pakistan’s Karakoram range are now racing against failing weather to reach six climbers still unaccounted for. Four bodies have been located, two of them formally identified, after the slide hit a 10 member international expedition on Broad Peak on Thursday. Among those missing is Nepali climber Nirmal Purja, the record-breaking mountaineer known worldwide as Nims Dai, whose disappearance has turned a remote mountaineering accident into a story followed well beyond the climbing world.
This piece lays out what is confirmed, what remains unclear, who the climbers are, and why Broad Peak, for all its reputation as the “easier” neighbour of K2, has claimed lives before.
What Happened on Broad Peak
Broad Peak rises to 8,047 metres in the Karakoram mountain range of Gilgit Baltistan, in northern Pakistan, making it the 12th highest mountain on Earth. On Thursday, 30 July 2026, a 10 member climbing team was moving from Camp 2 toward Camp 3, at an altitude of around 6,600 metres, when an avalanche swept through the route. Several reports describe two separate slides hitting the group in quick succession.
The climbers were using GPS tracking devices, and data from those trackers later showed several members of the team dropping hundreds of metres from their last recorded position, a strong indication that they were caught directly in the slide. Some trackers reportedly showed movement continuing for hours afterward, including one device linked to Purja that appeared to shift position into the early hours of Friday morning, a detail that gave rescuers a narrow window of hope even as the search stretched on.
What has drawn particular scrutiny is the delay in raising the alarm. The avalanche struck around midday, yet Base Camp staff reportedly did not learn what had happened until roughly 12 hours later, close to 10pm that night. That gap meant search and rescue teams could not begin moving until Friday morning, losing daylight hours that might otherwise have been used to reach survivors before conditions worsened. Alpine Club of Pakistan general secretary Ayaz Ahmed Shigri acknowledged the confusion around the timeline, and officials have said the club is reviewing exactly how the delay occurred.
By Friday, poor weather had grounded helicopters for much of the day, forcing rescue crews to rely on ground teams instead. It was that ground search which recovered the first four bodies from the base of the avalanche debris.
Who Are the 10 Missing Climbers
The Alpine Club of Pakistan has named all 10 members of the expedition. The team included six Nepali climbers, one Pakistani climber, one Omani climber, one American climber, and one Chinese climber:
- Nirmal Purja (“Nims Dai”), 43, Nepal born, former Royal Marine, leading the EliteExped team
- Pur Bahadur Gurung (“Yukta”), Nepal, an IFMGA certified mountain guide
- Kili Pemba Sherpa, Nepal
- Nima Sherpa, Nepal
- Gyalu Sherpa, Nepal
- Nawang Thindu Sherpa, Nepal
- Sohail Sakhi, Pakistan, a guide from Hunza
- Nadhira Ahmed Abdullah Al Harthy, Oman
- Mallory Geis, United States
- Wang Zhong, China
Two of the four recovered bodies have since been identified: Oman’s Nadhira Al Harthy and Nepal’s Pur Bahadur Gurung. Al Harthy’s remains were being airlifted toward Skardu for return to her family, while arrangements were under way to transport Gurung’s body. The identities of the remaining two bodies had not been confirmed as of Friday afternoon.
Purja himself needs little introduction to anyone who follows high altitude mountaineering. He rose to global attention after completing what he called Project Possible, summiting all 14 of the world’s 8,000 metre peaks in under seven months. In 2024, he went further, becoming the fastest person to climb all 14 without supplementary oxygen. Days before this avalanche, he had completed an oxygen free ascent of Gasherbrum II, part of what he was calling his Hat Trick Campaign to climb all 14 giants three times over. He is also known in Nepal for funding welfare projects for high altitude workers, including a porter shelter opened recently in the Everest region.
How the Search and Rescue Operation Is Unfolding
Pakistan’s Alpine Club has led the response, coordinating with the Pakistan Air Force, ground rescue crews, and outfitters already present at Broad Peak base camp. Helicopters were deployed at first light on Friday but had limited ability to fly for much of the day because of weather closing in over the Karakoram.
Ground teams have had more success, recovering the four bodies found so far and reportedly bringing at least some climbers who survived the initial slide back toward base camp during an overland rescue push, according to Thaneshwar Guragain, general manager of Seven Summit Treks, one of the major operators active in the region.
Nepal’s government has also stepped into the response. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the Nepali Embassy in Islamabad is coordinating directly with Pakistani authorities, including the Alpine Club, to support the search. Given that six of the ten missing climbers are Nepali nationals, this has become as much a Nepal story as a Pakistan one, and Kathmandu based outlets have been publishing rolling updates through the day.
The Alpine Club of Pakistan has urged caution about drawing early conclusions, asking the public to wait for verified information as search efforts continue, and its statements have consistently offered condolences to the climbers’ families while the operation is still active.
Why Broad Peak Is More Dangerous Than It Looks
Broad Peak has long carried a reputation as the more approachable option next to its infamous neighbour K2, only a few kilometres away. Technically, that reputation holds up. Broad Peak does not demand the same climbing skill as K2’s steep faces, and it draws climbers who are building toward the full set of 8,000 metre peaks precisely because it is seen as a reasonable stepping stone.
That reputation, though, has never meant the mountain is safe. Broad Peak sits above 8,000 metres, which places its upper reaches inside what mountaineers call the death zone, an altitude where the human body cannot properly absorb oxygen from the air and begins to deteriorate the longer it stays there, regardless of a climber’s fitness or experience. What actually makes Broad Peak dangerous is not technical difficulty but weather. The mountain is known for storms and avalanches that build quickly and without much warning, and its slopes above Camp 2 are precisely the kind of terrain where a heavy snow load can release without notice.
The mountain has a history to match. In 2013, three Iranian climbers died during their descent after reaching the summit. Pakistan’s Karakoram range as a whole has seen worse: in 2008, 11 climbers were killed in what remains the country’s deadliest modern mountaineering disaster, an avalanche and a chain of falls on K2 itself. This week’s events on Broad Peak sit inside that same pattern, a reminder that altitude and isolation, not technical grade, are often what decide these outcomes.
What People Are Asking About Nirmal Purja and the Broad Peak Avalanche
Is Nirmal Purja confirmed dead or still missing?
As of Friday, 31 July 2026, Purja is listed as missing, not confirmed dead. Four bodies have been found, and two identified, neither of them Purja. Search efforts for the remaining climbers, including Purja, were continuing.
How many climbers died in the Broad Peak avalanche?
Four bodies have been recovered so far. Whether all four represent fatalities from this specific team, and whether any of the remaining six missing climbers have survived, had not been confirmed by rescue officials at the time of writing.
Why did it take so long to send a rescue team?
Base Camp staff reportedly did not learn of the avalanche until around 12 hours after it struck, delaying the launch of a search until the following morning. Poor weather then limited helicopter access for much of Friday, pushing rescuers to rely on ground teams instead.
What altitude did the avalanche hit?
The slide struck the climbing route between Camp 2 and Camp 3, at approximately 6,600 metres, well below the 8,047 metre summit but still deep inside terrain exposed to high altitude weather risk.
Is Broad Peak harder to climb than Everest?
Broad Peak is technically less demanding than Mount Everest’s standard routes and is often used by climbers preparing for the full set of 8,000 metre peaks. It is not, however, a low risk mountain. Its record of avalanches and sudden weather changes shows that altitude and exposure carry their own danger, separate from technical grade.
The Broader Context for Nepal’s Mountaineering Community
Six of the ten missing climbers are Nepali, a fact that has hit particularly hard given how central high altitude work is to Nepal’s mountain economy. Nepali guides and climbers, many of them Sherpas from the Everest and Khumbu region, make up a large share of the workforce supporting expeditions not just on Everest but across the Karakoram, where Pakistani and Nepali outfitters routinely share the work of fixing ropes and guiding foreign clients. This accident is a reminder of how much of that labour, and its risk, falls on Nepali shoulders on peaks well outside Nepal’s own borders.
For readers wanting to understand the risks high altitude climbers face more broadly, our Mount Everest guide covers what happens to the body inside the death zone, while our breakdown of Everest’s most dangerous stretches explains why so many expeditions, on Everest and elsewhere, treat altitude itself as the real hazard rather than any single technical section of a climb. Readers following the broader safety picture around Himalayan expeditions may also find our piece on a recent trekking fraud case in Nepal a useful reminder that scrutiny of expedition logistics, communication, and safety protocol has been growing across the region, not just on Broad Peak.
If this is your first time reading about high altitude mountaineering in this part of the world, our general guide to planning a trip to Nepal gives useful background on how the country’s mountain regions operate, from permits to guide arrangements, even though Broad Peak itself sits across the border in Pakistan.
What Happens Next
Search and rescue operations remain active, and officials have repeatedly cautioned against drawing firm conclusions while the effort continues. Helicopter access will depend on whether weather over the Karakoram clears enough to allow safe flights. Ground teams are expected to keep working the debris field where the first four bodies were found, and identification of the remaining two recovered bodies is ongoing.
For Purja specifically, the tracking data showing possible movement into Friday morning has kept a narrow margin of hope alive among those following the story closely, though officials have not treated that data as confirmation of anything beyond a device signal. As with any unfolding disaster at extreme altitude, verified updates from the Alpine Club of Pakistan and Nepal’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs remain the most reliable source, and we will update this piece as confirmed information becomes available.
Sources: Al Jazeera, CNN, Kathmandu Post, Dawn, Nepali Times, ExplorersWeb, UPI, SnowBrains
