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K2 survivors describe avalanche K2 survivor: Companions all dead
(about 7 hours later)
Survivors of an expedition to the top of the world's second-highest mountain have described scenes of panic after an avalanche hit the group on its descent. The last known survivor of a mountaineering disaster on the world's second highest peak has reached base camp, saying his companions are dead.
Eleven climbers died on K2, in Pakistan, over the weekend. Italian Marco Confortola is being cared for by a rescue party and waiting for a helicopter to reach them on K2.
The avalanche struck as about 22 climbers descended from the peak of K2 in darkness on Friday, sweeping some of them away and leaving others stranded. Eleven climbers died after an ice fall swept away fixed ropes on the 8,611m (28,240 ft) peak in Pakistan on Friday.
An Italian member of the group has been reached by rescuers and taken to an advance base camp on the mountain. Some fell to their deaths, others froze, and some went missing in the freezing high altitude.
"I now realise that they're all dead, they're all dead," the 37-year-old climber said of his missing companions.
Mr Confortola was the last of about 22 climbers involved in the disaster to be accounted for. The 11 still missing are presumed dead.
"I'm at base camp. I'm truly happy, to be here finally and to be alive," Mr Confortola was quoted as saying after speaking by satellite telephone to the Italian mountaineering website www.montagna.tv.
"Now I just want to take off my shoes, since my feet are hurting something awful," said the climber, who is suffering from frostbite.
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Seven survivors are now off the mountain and either in hospital or recuperating and four others are still missing. Pakistan has listed the 11 dead as three South Koreans, two Nepalis, two Pakistanis and climbers from France, Ireland, Serbia and Norway.
Rescuers say that hopes that those missing can still be saved are receding fast. Mountaineering tragedy rescue effort
The Death Zone Mr Confortola was brought down after four nights on the mountain by a rescue party consisting of an American climber and Pakistani high-altitude porters.
Many regard the 8,611m (28,251ft) peak as the world's most difficult to climb. Pakistan tourism ministry official Shaukat Zaman said that the climber was out of danger.
In the deadliest day in K2's history, the avalanche occurred when a chunk from an ice pillar snapped away on a steep gully called the Bottleneck. "He will stay at the base camp for a night, and the army's pilots will fly helicopters on Wednesday morning to rescue him if the weather has improved there," he said.
Wilco Van Rooijen, one of the rescued climbers Two frostbitten Dutch climbers were taken off the mountain by helicopter on Monday.
Fixed ropes that the climbers relied on were torn away and several climbers were swept to their deaths. One of the rescued Dutchmen, Wilco van Rooijen, said ropes had been laid in the wrong places which had delayed the ascent.
Others froze to death after they were stranded high on the mountain in the high-altitude level above 8,000 metres climbers call the Death Zone, where there is not enough oxygen to support life. The ice fall swept away the ropes as the fastest climbers descended, and Mr van Rooijen said some of those stranded higher up on the mountain panicked.
The Italian climber still on the mountain, Marco Confortola, spoke by satellite phone to his brother Luigi.
"Up there it was hell," Ansa news agency quoted him as telling his brother.
"During the descent, beyond 8,000 metres (26,000 feet), due to the altitude and the exhaustion I even fell asleep in the snow and when I woke up I could not figure out where I was".
Pakistani helicopter pilots are attempting to reach Mr Confortola at the advance base camp at 6,000 metres where he has been taken by rescue climbers.
"The helicopters are at standby as the weather in Skardu, Baltoro [glacier] and the base camp remains inclement. An attempt will be made as soon as the weather clears," a statement by a Pakistani firm that operates the rescue helicopters said.
Killer mountain
Dutch survivor Wilco van Rooijen said people in the large group of climbers - composed of several teams that had waited for a break in the weather to climb the mountain since July - had failed to work together after disaster struck.
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"Everybody was fighting for himself and I still do not understand why everybody was leaving each other," he said. "People were running down but didn't know where to go, so a lot of people were lost on the mountain on the wrong side, wrong route and then you have a big problem," Mr van Rooijen told Reuters news agency from his hospital bed.
The climber spent Friday night huddled in the snow above the Bottleneck with two other climbers, before making his way down the rest of the mountain. He said he was screaming for people to work together, but many of them failed to react, apparently locked in their own personal struggle to survive.
He was airlifted by military helicopter from the mountain on Monday along with another Dutch climber. Among the 11 listed as dead is Gerard McDonnell, from Ireland.
Pakistani authorities said three South Koreans, two Nepalis, two Pakistani porters, and French, Serbian, Norwegian and Irish climbers had died on the mountain. Friend Pat Falvey said the climber's family "are holding up well and are very proud of Ger's achievement and are still in total shock in relation to the fact that he may not be coming back".
Expedition organisers only learned of the avalanche after a group of climbers arrived back at the mountain's base camp on Saturday evening. He said they did not expect to retrieve Mr McDonnell's body from such a high altitude.
Only a few hundred people have climbed K2 and dozens have died in the attempt. K2 lies near Pakistan's northern border with China. It is regarded by mountaineers as more challenging to conquer than Mount Everest, the world's highest peak.
One of the worst single-day death tolls was on Everest on 11 May 1996, when eight people died in summit attempts.
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Do you know anyone involved in any of the expeditions or have any information about them? Have you ever attempted to climb K2?Do you know anyone involved in any of the expeditions or have any information about them? Have you ever attempted to climb K2?
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