ISLAMABAD (AP) – A famous South Korean mountaineer fell into a crevasse and disappeared this weekend in bad weather after climbing another mountain peak in northern Pakistan, a mountaineering official said on Tuesday.
Kim Hong Bin was descending on Sunday after reaching the 8,047-meter (26,400-foot) Broad Peak in Pakistan’s northern Karakoram range, said Karrar Haidri, secretary of the Pakistan Alpine Club.
With the summit, Kim, 57, has climbed the 14 highest peaks in the world, becoming the first person with a disability to do so. In 1991, while climbing in Alaska, he suffered severe frostbite and had all of his fingers amputated.
Descending from the summit with several other climbers on Sunday, Kim slipped and fell on the Chinese side of the mountain, according to Haidri.
“Since then, no information is available about him,” said the official, adding that a search mission was planned.
Kim’s successes include the world’s tallest, Mount Everest on the Sino-Nepalese border, and Pakistan’s K2, the second tallest, which, like Broad Peak, is also in the Karakoram Range. Disability never became a barrier for Kim, said Haidri, and it did not stand in the way of her passion.
The other climbers, who had tried unsuccessfully to find Kim, were safe and descended in bad weather. The South Korean embassy in Islamabad was also organizing a search mission, he added.
“We don’t want to speculate†on Kim’s fate, Haidri told The Associated Press, declining to comment on reports on Twitter that the climber had died.
Ghulam Muhammad, the owner of touring company Blue Sky Expedition who organized the expedition for Kim, also confirmed an “unfortunate incident” when the South Korean was returning to base camp.
The organizers of the expedition were in contact with the family of the missing South Korean and any further information will be shared by his family or by South Korean officials, he added.
Dozens of climbers visit Pakistan every year to climb different mountains and peaks, located in the scenic north of the country. But sport is dangerous, especially when a sudden change in the weather occurs.
Earlier this year, three climbers – Pakistani climber Ali Sadpara, Icelandic Jon Snorri and Chilean Juan Pablo Mohr – died trying to climb the 8,611-meter (28,250 ft) high K2. Their bodies could not be found and recovered despite several attempts by the Pakistani search and rescue team assisted by the army.
