2 UK climbers rescued, 4 stranded on Pak mountain

Islamabad, Sep 30 (IANS) Two British climbers have been rescued while three others, along with a guide, were still trapped at the Koyo Zom peak in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, officials said.Koyo Zom is a peak located on the border between Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Chitral district and Gilgit-Baltistan, and stands at a height of 18,000 feet from the sea level, Dawn news reported.

The two rescued climbers were identified as William Taylor Sim and John James Crook. Of the ones stranded on the peak are Alastair James Swinton, Thomas Michael Livingstone, Uisdean Robertson Hawthorn, and a local tour guide identified as Imran.Upper Chitral Additional District Commissioner (ADC) Irfanuddin told Dawn news on Sunday night that the British expedition team had reached the Koyo Zom base camp in Upper Chitral on September 3.The team was scaling Koyo Zom in Yarkhun on Sunday when it met with an incident at around 12 noon.

“After receiving word of the accident, a rescue operation was launched and rescue teams reached the climbers by helicopter,” the ADC said, adding that the two rescued mountaineers were shifted to hospital in Mastuj town.”As per our information, the team fell from a height of 30 metres after a climber slipped on a glacier during the trek,” he said, adding that the rescue operation would resume on Monday to retrieve the four others.In March, British climbers Tom Ballard along with Italy’s Daniele Nardi died attempting a route of the Nanga Parbat that has never been successfully completed.

–IANSksk