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Pakistani authorities have confirmed that 11 climbers, including Irishman Gerard McDonnell, were killed while attempting to descend the world’s second-tallest mountain K2.
Several of the climbers died when an ice wall collapsed and tore away the fixed lines they were relying on to return after reaching the summit of the 8,611 metre K2 on Friday.
Others succumbed in the freezing, oxygen-starved air, stranded at an altitude known as the "Death Zone".
"On K2, when they're missing they're dead," said Sher Khan, a retired colonel and vice president of the Alpine Club of Pakistan, and one of Pakistan's most experienced climbers.
Several teams had massed on the mountain for an assault on the summit. At least two climbers died during the ascent, then disaster struck during the descent at a steep gully known as the Bottleneck, above 8,200 metres.
The ice fall killed three Korean and two Nepali climbers, and left around a dozen more, exhausted from the ascent, stranded in the thin air above the Bottleneck.
"Anybody hit by an avalanche above the Bottleneck will be swept way down the South Face, and there's no way they'll ever find them," said Mr Khan.
Pakistan's Ministry of Tourism released a list of 11 climbers believed dead: Mr McDonnell, three
South Koreans, two Nepalis, two Pakistanis and mountaineers from France, Serbia and Norway.
A Pakistan army helicopter airlifted frost-bitten survivors from the slopes of K2 today. The helicopter picked up two Dutch climbers and was due to return for some Italians elsewhere on the remote peak deep in the Karakoram range, bordering China.
One Swedish survivor, Fredrik Strang, described to US broadcaster CNN how people "froze to death" during the night. He also spoke of a sense of foreboding after a Serbian climber and a Pakistani plunged to their deaths on the ascent.
A total of 22 people, mostly foreigners, in eight different groups scaled K2’s summit on Friday. Mr McDonnell (37), from Kilcornan, Co Limerick, was the first Irish person ever to summit the mountain.
Mr McDonnell’s family last night issued a statement expressing their pride in his achievement, while President Mary McAleese and Minister for Sports Martin Cullen also paid tributes. Ms McAleese, who met Mr McDonnell earlier this year following a previous expedition of his to the South Pole, expressed her sympathies at the
“truly heartbreaking” events.
