Eyewitness Reveals the Story of Muhammad Hassan’s Death on K2

A lot of comments are being made on social media about the tragic death of Mohammad Hasan Shigri on K2 Bottleneck. Most of the people are criticizing those 103 climbers who scaled K2 on 28 July.

In this post we are sharing some important parts of an interview which is recorded by K2 Times on Facebook. In this interview Ahmed Hussain is answering the questions about the incident that happened on K2.Ahmad Hussain is a high altitude porter. He belongs to Arandu village district Shigar Pakistan. He has climbed G2, Broad Peak and K2. Interviewer asked Ahmed what happened to K2 on 27th July. Ahmed replied, that it was snowing that night on 27 July on K2 Bottleneck and there were 4 Pakistani and 5 Nepalese Sherpas for rope fixing. When they reached the top of the bottle neck, a Nepali Sherpa told them that one of their Pakistani High Altitude Porter had fallen down, so they came down but they did not have any rescue equipment. When a foreign climber came from down, he had the equipment and with his help, they took Hassan to the route. But after being taken out, he could not walk.

The interviewer inquired whether they attempted to rescue him. Ahmed responded that they made an effort to provide initial first aid , but Hassan himself couldn’t move. When asked about the quality of Hassan’s climbing equipment, he explained that he had good equipment, Oxygen and climbing gear and with these equipments he reached beyond 8200 meters. When asked where he had the equipment, he clarified that he possessed all the necessary climbing gear, including oxygen, yet circumstances led him to meet his unfortunate end here, as Allah willed. Ahmed mentioned that even John Snorri and Ali Sadpara had proper equipments, but they also met a similar fate. Ahmed further said that the Laila Peak manager tried to bring back Hassan’s body to basecamp but all climbers said that it is not possible to bring a body from K2’s Bottleneck – Death Zone to basecamp. Interviewer inquired that the Afghani climber’s body has been shifted from K2 to basecamp. Ahmed responded that the deceased Afghan climber’s body was found at Camp 3. While it’s feasible to bring bodies from Camp 3, he emphasized that it remains impossible to bring anyone from the Bottleneck. He noted that even the bodies of John Snori and Ali Sadpara cannot be brought back from there.

Addressing the question of challenges faced during the ascent, Ahmed revealed that the Nepalese team received communications from their own authorities, but there were no messages from the Shigar district administration. Despite being stuck in the bottleneck – the death zone for four hours, no assistance was forthcoming. He concluded by expressing that this situation exemplifies the challenges encountered in Pakistan.