One of two Japanese climbers was found dead in the mountains of northern Pakistan on Saturday and his body has been recovered, while a search for the other was continuing, officials said.
Ryuseki Hiraoka and Atsushi Taguchi had been attempting to summit Mount Spantik, a 7,027-metre (23,054-foot) mountain in the Karakoram range, before going missing this week.
“The body of the Japanese climber has been found and the search for the second climber is on,” said Wali Ullah Falahi, deputy commissioner of Shigar district.
The bodies were found 300 meters (984 feet) below Camp 3, about 6,200 meters (20,341 feet) above sea level from where climbers prepare for the final summit ascent, he said.
“It is unclear whose body was found,” said Naiknam Karim, director of Adventure Tours Pakistan, which organised the expedition.
The search by high-altitude climbers and experts was supported by two Pakistani military helicopters.
The pair reached base camp on June 3 and attempted the climb without the help of porters.
They were last seen on June 10th and the following day fellow hikers raised the alarm in anticipation of encountering them.
A military helicopter found the climbers on Thursday, but the search was called off due to bad weather.
Mount Spantik, also known as Golden Peak, is described on the Adventure Tours website as a “relatively accessible and easy to climb mountain”.
The country is home to five of the world’s 14 mountains over 8,000 metres, including K2, the second highest in the world.
According to government statistics, more than 8,900 foreigners visited the remote Gilgit-Baltistan province, where much of the Karakoram range is located, in 2013. The summer climbing season runs from early June to late August.
