Vigil and prayers: Families of Nepali climbers killed in Broad Peak wait for retrieval of bodies back home
ANI | Updated:Aug 04, 2026 23:24IST
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Kathmandu [Nepal], August 4 (ANI): It started with prayers of peace for the 10 climbers who lost their lives in an avalanche on Broad Peak last Thursday. Emotions ran high in between the prayers, following which all the family members, relatives and fellow members of the climbing fraternity came together to hold a candlelight vigil in their memory, whose body still lies on the slopes of the world’s 12th highest peak.Dozens of people attended the candlelight vigil in Kathmandu, paying tribute to those who were on a mission to make the impossible possible.”I am the cousin of Kili Pemba Sherpa. Today we have gathered here to hold a candlelight vigil paying tribute to all 10 climbers. The entire mountaineering fraternity is mourning their departure,” Pemba Rita Sherpa told ANI as he paid tribute to his brother killed in the avalanche.
“We are praying for their bodies to be brought back to Kathmandu very soon and request the government as well for it. We want their body to be brought here as soon as possible,” Pemba Rita, who has also Pemba Rita, who also has summited Everest 14 times, added. summited Everest 14 times, added.The ceremony organised at the Maitighar Mandala, a public ground to hold various events, was also attended by Mike Harker, the Public Affairs Chief at the US Embassy in Nepal. Harker is the first serving American Foreign Service Officer to scale the world’s highest peak.The US diplomat had summited Everest this spring season just ahead of “Freedom 250”- the upcoming 250th anniversary of American independence- symbolising the American spirit of drive, grit, and exploration. He joined the families, relatives and members of the mountaineering community to pay tribute to the team of 10 climbers who were swept by an avalanche on Broad Peak.
A total of 5 Nepali climbers lost their lives in the mountain, who have been named as Pur Bahadur Gurung “Yukta”, Kili Pemba Sherpa “Kilu”, Nima Sherpa, Nawang Thindu Sherpa and Gyalu Sherpa.Nadhira Ahmed Abdullah Al Harthy from Oman, Sohail Sakhi from Pakistan, Wang Zhong from China, Mallory Geis from the United States and Nirmal “Nims” Purja from the United Kingdom are others who had died in the avalanche.
All the climbers were confirmed dead on Saturday evening by Nims’ expedition company, Elite Exped, in social media posts. “This program is organised to honour those who lost their lives in Broad Peak recently, a couple of days ago. The country and the mountaineering community we had lost; I cannot explain the loss due to this accident. I really honour those people (climbers) whom we lost in Broad Peak, especially like Nims Dai, who held different records for the nation, for the world, for the mountaineering community,” Tul Singh Gurung, the President of Nepal National Mountain Guide Association (NNMGA), told ANI.Rescuers are attempting to retrieve the body of 8 climbers from the slopes of the world’s 12th highest peak since Saturday. The ongoing recovery mission is led by Veteran Nepali climber Mingma Gyalje Sherpa (Mingma G), Dawa Sherpa and Pakistani mountaineer Sirbaz Khan.Famed climber Purja aka Nimsdai and his team of 10 climbers were hit by an avalanche while summiting the 8,051-meter peak on Thursday. There were hopes that he would make it back alive, as his tracking device showed some movement of about 10 meters. This had given hope of him being alive, conscious and awaiting rescue but it slowly started to fade off with the time in delay for the deployment of rescue teams.Tracking data shows that Nirmal Purja had reached an altitude of 6,659 metres, above Camp II on Broad Peak, at 9:38 AM (local time) on Thursday. The tracker then recorded a rapid descent of about 800 metres to 5,891 metres at 10:18 AM, consistent with the reported avalanche. No further location data was transmitted from Purja’s tracker thereafter except for the 10-metre change, which was assumed to be a glitch.
The 43 old record holding climber was born in a village in Myagdi district of Nepal, which lies at an altitude of around 1,600 metres. Hailing from a Gurkha family, he joined the British Army’s Gurkha Regiment in 2003 at the age of 18 and was later selected for the United Kingdom Special Forces in 2009.During his 16 years of military service, Purja developed a passion for mountaineering. He made his first ascent in 2012 by climbing the 6,119-metre Lobuche Peak. In 2018, he resigned from the military to pursue mountaineering full-time. The same year, he was awarded the Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) by Queen Elizabeth II in recognition of his achievements.Purja rose to global prominence in 2019 after completing his Project Possible 14/7, climbing all 14 of the world’s 8,000-metre peaks in a record six months and six days. Two days after the avalanche, the rescuers had recovered the body of Nepali climbing guide Gyalu Sherpa. Gyalu, from eastern Nepal’s Sankhuwasabha district, held a Guinness World Record for climbing Kanchenjunga, the world’s third-highest mountain, three times in a single season after summiting on May 10, 19 and 25, last year.Last week, the bodies of Nepali guide Pur Bahadur Gurung, known as “Yukta”, and Omani climber Nadhira Ahmed Abdullah Al Harthy were retrieved from the slopes. Nadhira was the first Omani woman to summit Everest. Rescuers also recovered a severed leg believed to belong to American climber Mallory Geis. (ANI)
