Poland’s Tomasz Mackiewicz and French Elisabeth Revol were attempting to ascend the 8,126-metre ‘Killer Mountain’
An elite group of climbers in a daring high-altitude rescue mission were able to rescue a French climber from Nanga Parbat but called off efforts to retrieve a Polish climber.
Both Poland’s Tomasz Mackiewicz and France’s Elisabeth Revol have been missing since are they reportedly stuck in Pakistan’s 7,400 metres above sea level on the 8,126-metre tall Nanga Parbat located.
On the request Polish and French embassies, two Pakistan Army helicopters began an operation Saturday, in a bid to rescue the two European mountain climbers. The 8,126-meter-tall Nanga Parbat, the ninth-highest peak in the world, falls in Himalaya mountain range and is mostly known as “Killer Mountain” to the climbers.
After an exhausting night ascent a rescue mission found the French mountaineer Elisabeth Revol on the slopes of Pakistan’s treacherous “Killer Mountain”, but a Polish climber who had been with her remained missing, Poland’s winter climbing team said.
A helicopter organised by the Polish Embassy in Islamabad will carry Revol and her rescuers to the Pakistani town of Skardu today, if the weather allows, Giambiasi wrote.
Pakistani military helicopters buzzing over Nanga Parbat had spotted Revol at about 6,700 meters during daylight on Saturday, a Pakistani official said. The bad weather is hampering efforts to reach the pair as temperatures have dropped to -60C where the climbers were last seen.
The foreigner mountaineers were attempting to summit Nanga Parbat, last time they were spotted from base camp as they struggled to descend the 8,126m (26,660ft) mountain.
A fund-raising campaign was launched immediately to deal with the costs of this rescue operation, and a few minutes ago the Polish Minister for Sport and Tourism Witold Bańka tweeted that his government will cover the costs of the rescue operation.
The tweet is Polish language but it says that the Tourism Ministry approved to cover the costs of the rescue operation and financial guarantees, the Pakistani army is preparing an action. #NangaParbat
MSZ wydał zgodę na pokrycie kosztów akcji ratunkowej i gwarancje finansowe, wojsko pakistańskie szykuje akcję. #NangaParbat
— Witold Bańka (@WitoldBanka) January 26, 2018
According to a crowdfunding appeal to finance the USD 50,000 rescue mission, Poland’s Tomasz Mackiewicz is reportedly in critical condition and has been suffered snow blindness and frostbite.
Karim Shah, a local climber and other team members including a doctor will assist in the rescue operation from their base camp and flies them to the last spotted location of Nanga Parbat.
Yesterday, spokesman for the Pakistan Alpine Federation Karrar Haidri, said four volunteers would be airlifted in a military helicopter to base camp at 4300m above sea level, if the weather allowed today, before climbing to 7,000m to reach the stranded pair.
Karrar Haidri further said, “We have no contact now with Tomasz,” said Janusz Majer, who helped prepare the Polish expedition team currently scaling K2, adding that messages sent by Revol said Mackiewicz was suffering from snow blindness and frostbite.
was nicknamed “killer mountain” after more than 30 climbers died trying to conquer it before the first successful summit in 1953. In July last year, a Spaniard and an Argentinian were presumed dead after they went missing while trying to summit Nanga Parbat.