[1/2]Nirmal Purja speaks during a news conference after climbing six mountains including Mt. Everest in Kathmandu, Nepal May 28, 2019. REUTERS/Navesh Chitrakar/File Photo
PESHAWAR/KATHMANDU, July 31 (Reuters) - Pakistani search crews on Friday recovered the bodies of three of a group of at least 10 mountaineers who were caught in an avalanche on Broad Peak a day earlier, Pakistani officials said.
Drone footage showed signs of several more bodies in the search area, said the regional government in Pakistan's Gilgit-Baltistan, where Broad Peak is located.
Among those missing is Nepali mountaineer Nirmal Purja, 43, who set a record for the fastest ascent of the world's 14 highest mountains, a feat chronicled in the 2021 Netflix documentary "14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible."
The three bodies recovered are those of U.S. citizen Sarah Mallory, Nadhira Ahmed Abdullah Al Harthy from Oman, and Nepalese citizen Pur Bahadur Gurung, said Gilgit-Baltistan officials.
The climbers were swept away in an avalanche on the 8,051-metre (26,414-foot) peak, the world's 12th-highest mountain, around midday on Thursday.
Regional police said the rescue operation was suspended on Friday night because of weather conditions.
"We hope to continue our operations, both aerial search and the ground rescue, till the time we find the survivors or the dead bodies," said Irfan Arshad, president of the Alpine Club of Pakistan.
Two Pakistan Army Aviation rescue helicopters have been dispatched, said the ACP.
"We remain hopeful for the safe recovery of the missing climbers," said the club earlier on Friday. "The entire team has reportedly been out of communication since the avalanche."
The area in which the search is taking place is "remote and difficult", said Sajid Hussain, deputy director of the tourism department in Gilgit-Baltistan.
FRIENDS FEAR WORST
The Nepalese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said six of the 10 climbers missing in the avalanche are Nepalis.
The others are from Pakistan, Oman, the U.S. and China, the ACP said.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said at a news briefing on Friday that Chinese authorities were "urgently verifying the situation and gathering information" and "are willing to offer help based on the requirements of the Pakistan side."
Nepal had received assurances from the Pakistani authorities that they would mobilize all available resources for timely search and rescue operations, the country's foreign ministry said in a statement.
Trekking company Seven Summit Treks had three sherpa guides among the missing climbers, Chhang Dawa Sherpa, a board director, told Reuters.
Chhang said team members' last tracked location at the time of the suspected avalanche was at 6,600 metres (21,653 ft) and "fell down straight from there".
Friends and relatives of the climbers feared the worst. Mingma David Sherpa, a business partner of missing Nepali climber Purja, said he was on his way to Pakistan on Friday after hearing the news.
Purja climbed Annapurna, the 10th-highest mountain in the world, in 2019, and then began taking on other "8,000ers."
He became widely known internationally after the Netflix documentary chronicling his journey was released two years later.
Of the world's 14 highest peaks, eight are in Nepal, five in Pakistan and one in Tibet.
Climbing experts say barely more than three dozen mountaineers have climbed all 14 peaks to date. Broad Peak is considered one of Pakistan's most challenging climbs.
Reporting by Gopal Sharma in Kathmandu, Mushtaq Ali in Peshawar and Mubasher Bukhari in Lahore; Additional reporting by Ethan Wang in Beijing and Aftab Ahmed in New Delhi; Editing by Rick Noack, Michael Perry and Rosalba O'Brien
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