Missing Italian, British climbers found dead on Pak's 'killer mountain'
Islamabad: The bodies of two mountaineers from the UK and Italy were found Saturday in northern Pakistan, nearly two weeks after the duo went missing while trying to climb Nanga Parbat in Gilgit-Baltisitan region, the Italian ambassador said Saturday .
Italian national Daniele Nardi, 42, and Tom Ballard, a 30-year-old Briton, went missing on February 24 as they climbed the mountain, which at 8,125 metres (26,660 feet) is the world's ninth-highest peak. Nanga Parbat is also known as the "killer mountain".
Italian ambassador to Pakistan Stefano Pontecorvo tweeted that the bodies of the two men had been identified from aerial photos. "It hurts to announce that the search is officially over," he wrote.
"The search team have confirmed that the silhouettes spotted... at about 5,900 meters are those of Daniele and Tom," he tweeted.
Ballard and Nardi were attempting a new route on the Mummery Rib, a steep and dangerous avalanche-prone area on the Himalayan peak.
The pair had lost contact with the base camp, prompting a search by other fellow mountaineers in collaboration with the Pakistan Army, said Karar Haidri of Alpine Club of Pakistan, which organises mountaineering and other mountain-related adventure activities.
The search was interrupted by bad weather. It also got delayed because rescue teams were forced to wait for permission to send up a helicopter after Pakistan closed its airspace on Wednesday amid escalating tensions with India following the Pulwama attack.
Haidri also shared a message sent by Nardi's family on the tragic occasion.
"We are devastated by pain; we inform you that Daniele and Tom's researches are completed. Part of them will remain forever at Nanga Parbat," the family said.
Nardi had attempted to scale Nanga Parbat in winter several times.
Ballard was the son of British climber Alison Hargreaves, the first woman to scale Mount Everest alone and without bottled oxygen. She died in 1995 at the age of 33 while descending K2, the second highest peak in the world.
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Rickelton's ton in vain as SRH beat MI by 6 wickets
Mumbai (PTI): Ryan Rickelton's whirlwind unbeaten ton was overshadowed by Heinrich Klaasen's unbeaten 65 as Sunrisers Hyderabad defeated Mumbai Indians by six wickets in an IPL match here on Wednesday.
Chasing an imposing 244-run target, Travis Head (76 off 30) and Abhishek Sharma (45 off 24) shared 129 runs for the opening wicket to set the platform for SRH.
Klaasen (65 not out off 30 balls) then displayed his all-round hitting abilities to guide SRH home with the help of Nitish Kumar Reddy (21) and Salil Arora (30 not out off 10) in 18.4 overs.
Earlier, Rickelton's knock powered MI to 243 for five.
MI rode on a 93-run stand between Rickelton (123 not out off 55 balls) and Will Jacks (46 off 22) in 7.1 overs for the opening stand to power the side.
MI skipper Hardik Pandya scored a valuable 31 off 15 balls before being dismissed.
Praful Hinge (2/54), Eshan Malinga (1/29), Sakib Hasan (1/39) and Nitish Kumar Reddy (1/31) were the wicket-takers for SRH.
Brief Scores:
Mumbai Indian: 243 for 5 in 20 overs (Ryan Rickelton 123 not out; Praful Hinge 2/54).
Sunrisers Hyderabad: 249 for 4 in 18.4 overs (Travis Head 76, Heinrich Klaasen 65 not out; AM Ghazanfar 2/51).
