An Irish climber yesterday returned to his base camp after surviving an avalanche on one of the world's most dangerous mountains. Four men from his expedition are still missing.
Terence "Banjo" Bannon (37) from Newry, Co Down, and his team of nine climbers from Russia and Poland were hit by the avalanche on K2, at the border between China and Pakistan, at about noon local time on Sunday as they scaled the summit slope.
Simon Scott, who has been in telephone contact with the team, said Mr Bannon and five others had yesterday returned to base camp. "They were on the summit slope, so they were preparing to celebrate reaching the summit," Mr Scott said.
He added that Mr Bannon was in good health, but the surviving climbers were all shaken by the loss of their colleagues. They had given up all hope of finding the four Russians alive.
Mr Bannon said at least one of the climbers was on the summit, about 50 feet away from him, when the avalanche struck.
Russian news sources reported bad weather was complicating the search for the missing men, with rescue helicopters grounded for long periods.
The missing climbers were named yesterday as expedition leader Yuri Uteshev, coach Alexander Foigt, Piotr Kuznetsov and Arcady Kuvakin.
If they are not found, it would be the second largest single-day tragedy on K2.
The surviving members of the expedition are expected to return to Islamabad in the coming days.
While bad weather had persisted over the last few days, several members of the expedition had made it as far as Camp Four, though deep snow hindered their advance.
Mr Bannon, who reached the summit of Mount Everest in 2003, was attempting to become the first Irish person on the summit of K2.
Last week Irish climber Ger McDonnell had to be airlifted to K2 base camp after he was hit by a falling rock that cracked his helmet and inflicted a wound to his scalp that required 10 stitches.
In spite of unusually good weather this season, only four people have reached the summit of K2 this year.