2 British mountaineers rescued, 3 left stranded on Koyo Zom peak at Chitral-GB border
Two British trekkers have been rescued while three others, along with a guide, are trapped and awaiting rescue at the Koyo Zom peak in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, district administration officials confirmed late Sunday night.
Koyo Zom is a peak located on the border between KP's Chitral district and Gilgit-Baltistan, and stands at a height of 18,000 feet from the sea level, said the officials.
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 DawnNewsTV that the British expedition team had reached the Koyo Zom base camp in Upper Chitral on September 3.
It was scaling Koyo Zom in Yarkhun on Sunday when it met 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,” ADC Irfan said, adding that the two rescued mountaineers were shifted to hospital in Mastuj town.
He said that the rescued climbers are injured but in a stable condition. "One of the three trapped team members has received head injuries," he said, referring to Swinton.
ADC Irfan said that rescue officials had sought to continue the operation to retrieve the remaining three mountaineers along with the guide but had failed to reach them due to rough weather and darkness which forced them to stop the search.
“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 remaining mountaineers.
In the meanwhile, rescue teams have been dispatched on foot by the district administration, along with Chitral Scouts and police, said the officer.
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.
