Sadpara’s son, Sajid speaking at a news conference alongside officials, told reporters in the northern town of Skardu on Thursday, local time, that he was grateful authorities had done their best to try to find the group, which went missing on February 5.
Sajid Ali Sadpara, the son of missing mountain climber Ali Sadpara, had started the expedition with his dad but turned back when his equipment failed.Credit:AP
“I believe they scaled it but had an accident while coming down,” said the younger Sadpara, who had started the climb with his father but was forced to call it off and descend after his oxygen tanks malfunctioned.
He thanked the public for the support his family had received throughout the ordeal, saying it “gave an immense strength to me, to my sister, to my brothers and my mother”.
A statement from the families of Snorri and Mohr was also read out at the news conference, thanking Pakistan and its military for facilitating the search, reported Pakistan’s English-language Dawn newspaper.
“Based on the last known contact by John Snorri’s telephone, we are confident that all three men made it to the top of K2 and something happened on the descent,” said the statement. “Ali, John and Juan Pablo will live forever in our hearts.”
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Pakistan’s President Arif Alvi tweeted his condolences to the families of the three mountaineers. Of the Pakistani climber, the President said he “battled nature with strength, fortitude and heroism”.
Karrar Haidri of the Pakistan Alpine Club said that the climbers’ deaths were a great loss.
“We are very sad over the tragic demise of all the three climbers,” he said, adding that authorities had used helicopters and porters to try to recover the bodies but that even those efforts had failed.
