ISLAMABAD: Rescuers have called off the search for three Iranian climbers who went missing in the mountains of northern Pakistan, an official said yesterday.
The Iranians sent a distress call just after summiting the 8,051-metre (26,414-foot) Broad Peak on July 16, Manzoor Hussain, chief of the Alpine Club of Pakistan that coordinated the expedition, said.
Rescue teams and an army helicopter searched but did not locate them after they had called for help and reported exhaustion and lack of food, he said. They added that the climbers made calls back home to Iran on Saturday.
“A helicopter was sent on Sunday, but unfortunately it also found no trace of the climbers and the search has been called off,” Hussain said.
Pakistan is home to five of the world’s 14 peaks over 8,000 metres, including the world’s second-highest mountain, K2, but conditions are harsh and deaths not uncommon.
Last month Pakistan suspended expeditions to its second-highest peak Nanga Parbat after Islamist gunmen shot dead 10 foreign trekkers.afp
