Buddy of dying K2 porter criticises record-breaking mountaineers

Aug 13, 2023 at 12:29 PM
Buddy of dying K2 porter criticises record-breaking mountaineers

A good friend of a Pakistani porter who died on K2 has criticised the record-breaking mountaineers who allegedly walked previous him to achieve the mountain’s summit and described their behaviour as “below humanity”.

Mohammed Hassan, 27, slipped and fell off a slim path in a very harmful space of K2, the world’s second-highest peak, often known as the bottleneck.

Renowned Norwegian mountaineer Kristin Harila has denied claims her staff stepped over a dying Mr Hassan as a part of a world file bid final month after video emerged exhibiting climbers showing to step over the excessive porter.

Basharat Hussain, a childhood good friend of Mr Hassan, described it as “the most dehumanising event of [his] life”.

Muhammad Hassan, a 27-year-old father-of-three, from Pakistan, who died on K2.
Image:
Muhammad Hassan, a 27-year-old father-of-three, from Pakistan, who died on K2

He mentioned: “The climbers, who scaled the K2 this yr, I perceive their behaviour was beneath humanity and it was very saddening, after they walked previous the person after he was gravely injured in a fall and so they scaled the K2.

“I think this is the most dehumanising event in my life. It may have not happened in the past, it has not happened in the present, and I hope it will not happen in the future.”

An investigation has been launched into the claims that climbers left Mr Hassan to die close to the height of the world’s most treacherous mountain.

Harila, 37, has rejected any duty for the loss of life of the daddy of three and mentioned she is the sufferer of “misinformation” and has had “hatred” geared toward her – together with loss of life threats.

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Climbers ‘step over’ dying porter

Last month, she turned the quickest climber to scale all of the world’s 14 highest mountains – finishing the achievement in simply 92 days.

Her closing climb was of K2 on 27 July, after which she arrived with fellow record-breaker, Nepali mountaineer Tenjen (Lama) Sherpa, in Kathmandu to a hero’s welcome.

But through the K2 climb, an area helper who was a part of a staff forward of them, slipped a couple of metres from a slim ledge, turned tangled in ropes and later died on the mountain.

Read extra:
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Why was mountain porter left to die?

Harila has defended herself in opposition to allegations from two different climbers who have been on K2 that day, Austrian Wilhelm Steindl and German Philip Flaemig.

The pair had aborted their climb due to troublesome climate circumstances, however mentioned they reconstructed the occasions later by reviewing drone footage.

The investigation is being performed by officers within the Gilgit-Baltistan area which has jurisdiction over K2, mentioned Karrar Haidri, the secretary of the Pakistan Alpine Club, a sports activities organisation that additionally serves because the governing physique for mountaineering in Pakistan.