Nirmal Purja, the Nepali mountaineer known across the climbing world as Nims Dai, is among ten climbers unaccounted for after an avalanche struck their expedition on Broad Peak in Pakistan’s Karakoram range on Thursday afternoon. Four bodies have been recovered by ground rescue teams, though none had been formally identified as of Friday afternoon, according to Irfan Arshad Khan, president of the Alpine Club of Pakistan.
Purja was leading a ten-member international team on Broad Peak, the world’s 12th-highest mountain at 8,047 metres, when the avalanche hit at an altitude of roughly 6,600 to 7,000 metres as the group moved between Camp 2 and Camp 3. Base Camp staff reportedly did not learn of the avalanche until around twelve hours later, because the entire climbing party had been swept away and out of radio contact at once.
Who was on the team
Alongside Purja, the expedition included five Nepali climbers: Pur Bahadur Gurung (known as “Yukta”), Kili Pemba Sherpa, Nima Sherpa, Gyalu Sherpa and Nawang Thindu Sherpa. The wider international group also included Pakistani climber Sohail Sakhi, Chinese climber Wang Zhong, American climber Mallory Geis, and Omani climber Nadhira Al Harthy. By Friday, the Alpine Club of Pakistan confirmed that two of the four recovered bodies had been identified as Gurung and Al Harthy, who was the first Omani woman to attempt Broad Peak.
For anyone unfamiliar with why a route between Camp 2 and Camp 3 carries this level of risk, our guide to high-altitude climbing on Nepal’s 8,000-metre peaks covers how avalanche exposure changes above 6,000 metres, where snowpack becomes far less predictable than on the lower approach trails most trekkers are used to.
What triggered the search effort
GPS trackers carried by several climbers, including Purja, showed movement consistent with the group being swept close to 1,000 metres downhill by the force of the slide. That signal became the main basis for hope through Thursday night: rescue coordinators could see that at least some devices were still transmitting, even with no voice or radio contact. On Friday, Nepali news outlet Ratopati reported that Purja’s own tracker had shown him stable at an altitude of around 5,878 metres, though with the device’s battery running low.
Poor weather over the Karakoram range grounded helicopters through much of Thursday night and early Friday, forcing rescue teams to rely on overland routes to reach the area. Thaneshwar Guragain, general manager of Seven Summit Treks, said some climbers swept away by the avalanche were brought back to Base Camp through that overland effort, and the four recovered bodies were found during the same operation. The Pakistan Air Force deployed search helicopters once conditions allowed on Friday morning, and Gilgit-Baltistan’s Chief Minister, Amjad Hussain, directed local departments to keep all available resources on standby.
Nepal’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the Nepali Embassy in Islamabad was coordinating directly with Pakistani authorities, including the Alpine Club of Pakistan, to support the search.
Who is Nirmal Purja
Purja, 43, is one of the most recognisable names in modern mountaineering, both inside Nepal and internationally. A former UK Special Boat Service soldier who served 16 years before turning to full-time climbing, he became the first person to summit all fourteen of the world’s 8,000-metre peaks in under seven months back in 2019, a feat later chronicled in the Netflix documentary 14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible. In 2024 he became the fastest person to complete all fourteen without supplementary oxygen. He had reportedly just completed his 57th successful 8,000-metre ascent, on Gasherbrum II, days before setting out for Broad Peak as part of what’s been described as a “Hat Trick” campaign to climb all fourteen peaks three times over.
Beyond the records, Purja is well known within Nepal’s trekking and expedition community for his foundation’s work supporting high-altitude workers, including funding a porter shelter in the Everest region. Readers wanting background on that side of the industry, the Sherpas, guides and porters whose labour makes any 8,000-metre expedition possible, can find more in our coverage of Everest’s Sherpa and porter community, which explains the roles climbers like Purja depend on but rarely get asked about in interviews.
Broad Peak’s history
Broad Peak sits in the Karakoram range near K2, one of five 8,000-metre peaks in Pakistan and considered somewhat less technically demanding than its notorious neighbour, though still prone to sudden, harsh weather shifts. Three Iranian climbers died descending Broad Peak in 2013. Pakistan’s worst modern mountaineering disaster remains the 2008 K2 avalanche, in which 11 climbers were killed. The Karakoram range as a whole remains far more isolated than Nepal’s Everest region, with far fewer resources for communication or helicopter evacuation, which is part of why this rescue has moved more slowly than a comparable incident might in the Khumbu.
That isolation is worth understanding if you’re weighing an expedition to Pakistan’s peaks against Nepal’s own high-altitude routes. Our overview of the risks climbers face above 8,000 metres goes into how rescue infrastructure, weather windows and avalanche risk differ across the world’s highest peaks, and why preparation looks different depending on which range you’re climbing in.
What happens next
As of Friday afternoon Kathmandu time, four bodies have been recovered and two identified, while Purja and five others remain unaccounted for. Weather over the weekend was expected to hold clear, according to Alpine Club general secretary Ayaz Ahmed Shigri, which should allow helicopter search efforts to continue. The Alpine Club of Pakistan has said all available helicopter and ground resources are being mobilised as conditions permit.
We’ll update this article as confirmed details emerge from the Alpine Club of Pakistan, Nepal’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Seven Summit Treks. In the meantime, our thoughts are with the climbers’ families and expedition teams waiting for news.
If you’re following this story for updates on Nepali climbers specifically, our Mount Everest and mountaineering section will carry further coverage as it develops.