ISLAMABAD –
An Australian and a Canadian climber died last week in northern Pakistan while trying to climb K2, the world’s second-highest mountain, officials from both countries said Thursday.
Matthew Eakin’s death was announced by Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, which expressed its “condolences to his family and friends”. His body was found via drone video on Thursday.
Canada’s Department of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that it is aware of the death of a Canadian in Pakistan. It did not provide further details, citing privacy concerns and saying only that officials were “providing consular assistance to the family.”
Earlier, a Pakistani climber’s representative and the Canadian press said the body of Richard Cartier, who went missing in a separate incident on the same mountain on July 19, had also finally been spotted by a K2 search team. Cartier was 60 and an experienced climber.
K2, on the China-Pakistan border in the Karakoram Mountains, has one of the deadliest records, with most climbers dying on the descent, where the slightest mistake can trigger an avalanche and become fatal. Only a few hundred have successfully reached the summit. In contrast, Mount Everest, the world’s tallest mountain, has been climbed more than 9,000 times.
Eakin’s heartbroken friends posted tributes on social media to honor him, saying his death was a huge loss to the climbing community. A friend, Felicity Simons, said of their 23-year friendship: “I will always see your smile in the clouds. Rest in peace, dear friend, in the mountains you loved.’
Karrar Haidri, the deputy chief of the Pakistan Alpine Club, which is coordinating search and rescue missions with Pakistan’s government and military, confirmed the deaths of Ikin and Cartier.
“We extend our condolences to the friends and family members of the Australian and Canadian climbers who died on K2,” Haidry told The Associated Press.
Also last week, a third climber, Ali Akbar Saki from Afghanistan, died on K2. Saki suffered a heart attack while trying to climb the peak, Haidri said.
The Canadian Embassy in Islamabad did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Dawn, one of Pakistan’s English-language newspapers, reported earlier this week that the two climbers were spotted between Camp 1 and Camp 2 of K2 after they both went missing on July 19 in separate incidents.
K2 is also among the coldest and windiest climbs. In places along the route, climbers must navigate nearly sheer rock walls rising 80 degrees while avoiding frequent and unpredictable avalanches.
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Associated Press writer Rod McGuirk in Canberra, Australia, contributed to this report.
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