ISLAMABAD, July 25 (Xinhua) -- A search operation is underway to find missing South Korean climber Kim Hong-bin, a Pakistani private tour operator that arranged Kim's expedition said on Sunday.
Kim went missing after falling into a crevasse in bad weather in the Karakoram mountain range when the climber was descending from the Broad Peak, the world's 12th highest peak, said Haji Ghulam Muhammad, head of Blue Sky Treks and Tours.
Two helicopters from Pakistan's Askari Aviation have been dispatched to the area where Kim is believed to have fallen, Muhammad said, adding that some mountaineers who were at the Broad Peak and tried to rescue Kim when he fell are also taking part in the operation.
He added that Kim might have fallen on the Chinese side of the mountain and that "Chinese teams are also taking part in the search operation for the mountaineer."
"Kim was a fingerless climber with a passion for climbing. He scaled the 8,047-meter Broad Peak last Sunday, making him the first disabled mountaineer to scale all 14 peaks above 8,000 meters, but it is unfortunate he couldn't make it on the way back," said Karar Haidri, secretary general of the Alpine Club of Pakistan.
Haidri said that Kim had lost all his fingers to frostbite about 30 years ago, but had nevertheless continued with his passion of mountaineering.
Haidri added that the expedition was initially planned last year, but the South Korean had had to postpone it for a year due to the pandemic and subsequent lockdowns.
