The body of celebrated Hunza-born mountaineer Sohail Sakhi has been recovered from Broad Peak, more than two weeks after he went missing in a deadly avalanche, the Alpine Club of Pakistan confirmed.
Sakhi’s body was found on Wednesday near Camp 1, at an altitude of 5,600 meters, after three young men from Shigar — Abuzar Ali, Muhammad Nadeem, and Muhammad Bashir — pressed ahead with an independent, unofficial search despite government rescue agencies having called off operations on August 3 due to the danger of further avalanches.
A Self-Organized Search
Speaking to local media, Abuzar Ali said he was part of a Broad Peak expedition team and, after securing permission from his supervisor, chose to head toward Camp 1 on his own initiative. Within hours, he and his companions reached the point where the avalanche debris had settled.
The searchers first spotted a boot, then a piece of clothing at the same spot. Digging at the site, they gradually uncovered a human body. After roughly three hours of continuous effort, they completed the recovery.
The three men initially left the body at the site and returned to camp to report their discovery. They then went back with a member of Sohail Sakhi’s own expedition team, who confirmed the identification, before the group began carrying the body down the mountain.
Body to Be Flown to Skardu, Then Hunza
Weather permitting, Sohail Sakhi’s body will be transported by helicopter from Base Camp to Skardu, and from there taken to his ancestral village in Hunza for burial.
Background: The July 30 Avalanche
The tragedy began on July 30, when an avalanche near Camp 2 on Broad Peak swept away 10 mountaineers, including one American, one Chinese, one Omani, six Nepali, and one Pakistani climber. A large-scale rescue operation recovered the bodies of seven mountaineers — including five Nepalis — about two weeks ago. However, with avalanche risk still deemed high, the search for the remaining three — Sohail Sakhi, Sarah Mallory Geis, and Nwang Thendu Sherpa — was suspended.
With Sakhi’s recovery, American climber Mallory Geis and Nepali mountaineer Nung Thundu Sherpa remain missing, and no formal search operation is currently underway to locate them.