Avalanche on Broad Peak Kills 10 Climbers Including Nirmal Purja

An avalanche struck an expedition on Broad Peak in Pakistan on Thursday, July 31, 2026, killing all 10 members of the group. Among the dead was Nirmal Purja, a 43-year-old British-Nepali mountaineer renowned for his record-breaking climbs. Six of the expedition members were Nepali climbers or guides, with the remaining four from the United States, China, Oman, and Pakistan.

Broad Peak is located in Pakistan's Gilgit-Baltistan region in the Karakoram mountain range and stands at approximately 8,047 metres (26,400 feet), making it the world's 12th-tallest mountain. The expedition was operated by Elite Expeditions.

Purja had climbed all 14 of the world's eight-thousander peaks in six months and six days in 2019, shattering the previous record of approximately seven to eight years. The achievement was documented in a 2021 Netflix documentary titled '14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible.' He was also part of the historic all-Nepali team that completed the first winter ascent of K2.

Before turning to mountaineering, Purja served 16 years in the British military, including time with the Gurkhas from 2003 and with British special forces from 2009. He was awarded an MBE by Queen Elizabeth II in 2018 for his achievements in extreme high-altitude mountaineering.

Recovery operations followed over subsequent days, with local Pakistani experts and Nepali guides conducting body recovery operations on the mountain. A Pakistani rescue team recovered three bodies on Friday, with rescue operations temporarily halted due to weather before resuming on Saturday.

Nepal's Prime Minister Balendra Shah and Britain's Prince William were among international figures who paid tribute following the deaths.

BBC News reported that Purja's body was found approximately 5,700 metres up the mountain, and identified two other victims: Pur Bahadur Gurung (also known as Yukta), who summited Everest 10 times and was part of the 2024 team that discovered a shoe believed to belong to British climber Andrew Irvine, and Kili Pemba Sherpa, who worked as a guide for Imagine Nepal expedition company.

Fox News identified American climber Sarah Mallory Geis as one of the expedition members killed, and reported that Purja had been leading the expedition group up Broad Peak at the time of the avalanche.

The Straits Times reported that the Alpine Club of Pakistan stated on August 2 that a ground rescue team was transporting four bodies, including those of Purja, two Nepali nationals, and a Chinese citizen. The outlet also reported that hundreds of Nepalis, including approximately 500 mourners and Buddhist monks, held a candlelight vigil in the Nepali capital on August 4.

BBC News reported that in his last post on social media platform X, published on a Monday, Purja stated he had not originally planned to climb Broad Peak, but added it to his itinerary to be within one mountain of becoming the first person in history to climb all 14 eight-thousanders twice without supplemental oxygen. He had successfully summited Gasherbrum II on July 21—his 57th summit of an eight-thousander—before deciding to also attempt Broad Peak.

BBC News also noted that Norwegian mountaineer Kristin Harila subsequently broke Purja's 2019 record by climbing all 14 peaks in three months and one day in 2023.

In 2024, a New York Times article detailed sexual assault allegations made by two women against Purja, which he denied through his lawyer. This reporting appeared only in BBC News coverage.