Nirmal Purja and nine team members killed in Broad Peak avalanche

On July 30, 2026, an avalanche on Pakistan's Broad Peak killed all 10 members of an international expedition led by renowned British-Nepali mountaineer Nirmal Purja. The expedition comprised Purja, five Nepali climbers, one Pakistani, one American, one Chinese national, and one Omani climber. Contact with the team was lost on the morning of July 30.

Purja was leading the expedition for his company, Elite Exped (also referred to as Elite Expeditions), when the disaster struck. The avalanche hit between camp two and camp three on Broad Peak's west ridge, at an elevation of approximately 6,579–6,600 metres, sometime between 9am and midday local time.

Nirmal Purja, 43 at the time of his death, was a British-Nepali mountaineer born in Nepal who became a British citizen after joining the British army in 2003. He served in the British military for 16 years, including service with the Brigade of Gurkhas and later with the UK Special Forces (including the Special Boat Service/Squadron of the Royal Marines), spending approximately 10 years in special forces before transitioning to professional mountaineering.

In 2019, Purja achieved international fame by climbing all 14 eight-thousanders (mountains above 8,000 metres) in 189 days — six months and six days, between April and October — breaking the previous record of approximately seven to eight years. The feat, which he called Project Possible, was chronicled in a Netflix documentary titled '14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible', released in 2021.

Purja led the first team to complete a winter ascent of K2, the world's second-highest mountain, on January 16, 2021, with a team of nine other Nepalese climbers. He received an MBE from Queen Elizabeth II in 2018 for his achievements in extreme high-altitude mountaineering.

Center-left outlets reported that Purja's 2019 record was later surpassed in 2023 by Norwegian mountaineer Kristin Harila, who climbed the 14 peaks in three months and one day. This detail was not reported by sources across other parts of the political spectrum.

In the days following the avalanche, rescue teams recovered multiple bodies under extremely challenging conditions. Nirmal Purja's body was recovered at approximately 5,700 metres on Broad Peak by a ground rescue team. The bodies of three climbers — American Mallory Geis, Omani Nadhira Ahmed Abdullah Al Harthy, and Nepali Pur Bahadur Gurung — were also recovered and flown to Skardu or hospital by July 31.

Rescue operations faced severe weather, heavy snowfall, and difficult high-altitude terrain, which temporarily halted search efforts. The Pakistani army conducted rescue operations in coordination with local high-altitude climbers and rescuers, using helicopters and drones.

Center and center-left sources reported that tracking device data showed a rapid loss of altitude consistent with an avalanche, with some devices indicating the climbers were thrown hundreds of metres down the mountainside. This technical detail about tracker evidence was not reported across the full political spectrum.

The Straits Times reported that a ground rescue team was transporting four bodies down from the mountain — including Purja, two other Nepali nationals, and a Chinese citizen — while one additional body was confirmed at a significantly higher elevation but was unlikely to be recovered due to hazardous conditions. This specific breakdown of recovery status was unique to that outlet's reporting.

The South China Morning Post reported that seven climbers' bodies had been located as of its latest update, including those of Wang Zhong, Nima Sherpa, and Kili Pemba Sherpa. These specific names and the count of seven bodies located were reported only by that outlet.