Pakistan investigates K2 death after claims ‘dozens’ of climbers walked past dying porter

K2 is the world’s second-highest peak and the porter is said to have fallen at its most dangerous part.

K2 is the world’s second-highest peak (AFP via Getty Images)

An investigation has been launched into the death of a Pakistani porter near the peak of the world’s most treacherous mountain.

Base camp porter Mohammed Hassan, a 27-year-old father of three, slipped and fell off a narrow trail in a particularly dangerous area of K2 known as the bottleneck.

It comes following allegations that dozens of climbers eager to reach the summit of K2, the world’s second-highest peak, had walked past the man after he was gravely injured by falling off a ledge.

Karrar Haidri, the secretary of the Pakistan Alpine Club, announced that an investigation has been launched into the death of Hassan, who died on 27 July.

The investigation is being conducted by officials in the Gilgit-Baltistan region which has jurisdiction over K2, Mr Haidri added.

It comes as two other climbers who were on K2 that day, Austrian Wilhelm Steindl and German Philip Flaemig, claim they saw people stepping over the gravely injured man instead of coming to his rescue.

The pair had aborted their climb due to difficult weather conditions, but said they reconstructed the events later by reviewing drone footage.

Mr Steindl alleged that the porter could have been saved if the other climbers had given up attempts to reach the summit.

Anwar Syed, the head of Lela Peak Expedition, the company handling Harila’s expedition, said Hassan died about 150m (490ft) below the summit.

He said several people tried to help, providing oxygen and warmth, to no avail.

Mr Syed said that because of the bottleneck’s dangerous conditions, it would not be possible to retrieve Hassan’s body and hand it to his family.

He added that his company had provided money to Hassan’s family and would continue to help.

Norwegian climber Kristin Harila, left, and her Nepali sherpa guide Tenjen Sherpa, right, who climbed the world's 14 tallest mountains in record time (AP)

When asked about Hassan’s apparent lack of equipment, Mr Syed said the expedition company pays money for porters to buy gear, and that Hassan was paid the agreed-upon amount.

Mr Flaemig alleged in an interview with the Austrian newspaper Der Standard that Hassan had no high-altitude experience.

The German climber added: “He wasn’t equipped properly. He did not have experience.

“He was a base camp porter and for the first time was picked to be a high-altitude porter. He wasn’t qualified for this.”

Mr Steindl visited Hassan’s family and set up a crowd-funding campaign. After three days, donations reached more than €114,000 (£98,468) by Saturday.

“I saw the suffering of the family,” Mr Steindl said, “the widow told me that her husband did all this so that his children would have a chance in life so that they could go to school.”

The events overshadowed a record established by Norwegian climber Kristin Harila and her guide Tenjin.

By climbing K2 that day, they became the world’s fastest climbers, scaling the world’s 14 highest mountains in 92 days.

Norwegian mountaineer details how team tried to save dying porter’s life after K2 fall (Sky News)

In an Instagram post on Friday, Ms Harila wrote that she felt “angry at how many people have been blaming others for this tragic death” and that no one was at fault.

She told Sky News that Hassan had been dangling from a rope, head down, after his fall at the bottleneck, which she described as “probably the most dangerous part of K2”.

After about an hour, her team was able to pull him back onto the trail, Ms Harila added.

At some point, she and another person from her team decided to continue to the top while another team member stayed with Hassan, giving him warm water and oxygen from his own mask.

Ms Harila said she decided to continue moving toward the summit because her forward-fixing team had also run into difficulties.

Asked about Hassan’s gear, Ms Harila said that he did not wear a down suit and he didn’t have gloves, nor did he have oxygen.

“We didn’t see any sign of either a mask or oxygen tank,” she said.

Criticising those who had shared footage of Hassan’s body, she wrote on social media: “It is extremely insensitive, and shows no respect for those close to Hassan, and for Hassan himself. He was a person who was important to so many people and he should not just be remembered as a person who passed on K2.”