The China Mail - Rescuers recover climber Nirmal Purja's body after avalanche disaster

The avalanche struck on Thursday, cutting off contact with the international expedition led by Purja, a 43-year-old British-Nepali climber, on Broad Peak.

"The ground rescue team has reached Nims Dai (Purja) at approximately 5,700m on Broad Peak -- a mountain he loved, and a mountain that has now taken him from us," the club posted on social media.

The club's general secretary Ayaz Shigri said a ground rescue team was transporting four bodies -- including those of Purja, two other Nepali nationals and a Chinese citizen -- down from the mountain.

"Rescuers have also confirmed the presence of one additional body at a significantly higher elevation," he said in a statement.

"Due to the extremely hazardous terrain and prevailing conditions, it is unlikely that a recovery attempt will be made at this stage," he added.

Purja's expedition company confirmed on Saturday that no team members had survived.

Regional authorities said the remains of three climbers -- an Omani woman, a Nepali man and an American woman -- had been recovered and flown to the city of Skardu on Friday.

The avalanche has sparked an outpouring of shock in the mountaineering community, especially in Nepal, and leaders including Britain's Prince William have expressed condolences to the families of the climbers.

- 'Unthinkable loss' -

Purja, who served with Britain's Brigade of Gurkhas before joining the Special Boat Squadron of the Royal Marines, broke multiple climbing records since becoming a full-time mountaineer and tour guide.

"Nims (Purja) served with distinction in the British Armed Forces before becoming one of the world's greatest mountaineers, putting Nepalese climbers on the map," Prince William posted on X, saying he was "truly saddened" by the loss of life.

Purja had written on X on Monday that he was close to becoming the first person to climb all 14 "super peaks" twice without oxygen.

"Broad Peak, I ask for nothing but safe passage up and back down," he wrote.

Rescuers have been scouring the difficult, high-altitude mountainside for days by air and ground after contact was lost with the team on Thursday.

"My loving brothers... We will take you back home to see (your) families," Mingma G Sherpa, a mountaineer involved in rescue posted on Instagram on Saturday.

Messages of grief poured out after the confirmation that none of the team had survived.

"This is an unthinkable loss for our mountaineering community and for the nation," Fur Gelje Sherpa, the President of Nepal's mountaineering association posted on social media.

"He was keen on making Nepal recognized in the world and developing our mountaineering sector."

Broad Peak is the world's 12th highest mountain, located in the Karakoram range in northern Pakistan, and is regarded as one of the toughest and most technical climbs of all the 8,000-metre-plus ascents.

It was first summited in 1957 by an Austrian team.

C.Fong--ThChM