Two foreign climbers attempting to scale Nanga Parbat have gone missing. Climbers Alberto Zerain Berasategi and Mariano Galacan belonging to Spain and Argentina respectively went missing while attempting to climb the ‘killer mountain’.
They were a part of 14-member foreign expedition team with members belonging to multiple countries, including Italy, Korea, Spain and Argentina. The climbers left from the base camp of Nanga Parbat in Diamer district of Gilgit-Baltistan to summit the peak on June 18. However, police said that after attempting the climb, 12 members of the team have returned to the base camp while two climbers who were on the higher camp have not been in contact with the team for the past three days.
Earlier Incidents
On June 22, 2013, about 16 militants, reportedly dressed in Gilgit Scouts uniforms, stormed a high-altitude mountaineering base camp in Gilgit–Baltistan, Pakistan, and killed 10 climbers and a local guide. The climbers were from various countries, including Ukraine, China, Slovakia, Lithuania and Nepal. A Chinese citizen managed to escape the assailants, and a member of the group from Latvia happened to be outside the camp during the attack. The attack happened at the base camp on Nanga Parbat, the ninth highest mountain in the world. The mountain is popular among trekkers and mountaineers from June to August because of the moderate weather conditions.
The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the attacks in a statement released later on the day of the attack. The group claimed it was a retaliation for the fatal US drone strike against Waliur Rehman, a Taliban commander, who was killed on 29 May 2013. The group's spokesperson Ehsanullah Ehsan said ″Through this killing we gave a message to international community to ask U.S. to stop drone strikes″. Another militant group Jundallah, notorious for organising attacks on Pakistani Shi'ites, had also previously claimed responsibility.