5 British climbers rescued after crevasse mishap

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ISLAMABAD, Oct 01 (APP):Five British climbers have been rescued from 6,872m Koyo Zom, the highest peak in the Hindu Raj Mountains of northern Pakistan, Alpine Club of Pakistan (ACP) said on Tuesday.

“The experienced group were at 5,900m on Sunday when they apparently fell 30m into a crevasse. One of them, Alastair Swinton, suffered a head injury. His partner, Tom Livingstone, who had not fallen in, managed to extract him,” Karrar Haidri, Secretary ACP said in a statement.

The mishap occurred on Saturday and on Sunday, and after which the rescue operation began. After much difficulty and some miscommunication, two of the climbers, Will Sim and John Crook, were airlifted safety.

But darkness and worsening weather in the evening stranded Swinton and Livingstone for a further night at 5,486m. A fifth member of the group, Uisdean Hawthorn, had remained at Base Camp.

“Today, helicopters extracted the remaining climbers, although strong winds made it difficult to land the helicopters, and the rescue took six hours. The injured climbers are currently in hospital,” Haidri said.

This is not the first time Swinton has dodged a potentially fatal accident. In 2013, he survived an avalanche on Mont Blanc after swimming through the cascading snow to remain on the surface.

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