In a dramatic turn of events, two Japanese climbers who went missing while attempting to summit the 7,027-meter Spantik Peak have been located by Pakistan Army helicopters. The climbers, Ryuseki Hiraoka and Atsushi Taguchi, were spotted at an altitude of approximately 5,000 meters on Thursday. Their condition, however, remains unclear.
The climbers went missing on Tuesday at Camp 2, situated at an altitude of 5,300 meters, while trying to ascend Spantik Peak, also known as Golden Peak, which lies between the Shigar and Nagar districts of Gilgit-Baltistan. They were part of two separate Japanese expedition teams that shared base camp services but had different ascent strategies.
On Wednesday, a report of the missing climbers was made to the base camp staff and the tour operator by the seven-member Japanese team after they reached Camp 2 and discovered Hiraoka and Taguchi were missing. This led to the launch of an aerial search operation by Pakistan Army helicopters on Thursday.
The helicopters, crewed by high-altitude climbers and experts, initially failed to locate the climbers in the first round of the search but spotted them in the second round. Despite this success, the challenging terrain and weather conditions prevented the helicopters from landing or hovering to perform a rescue.
Shigar Deputy Commissioner Waliullah Falahi informed Dawn that three high-altitude climbers from Sadpara, Skardu, were airlifted to the Spantik base camp by army helicopters. These climbers, along with the Japanese climbers at the base camp, will embark on a ground rescue mission early Friday morning.
“The team will attempt to reach the location of the missing climbers and bring them to safety,” Falahi stated, emphasizing that all available resources are being mobilized for the rescue operation.
Base camp sources confirmed the sighting of the climbers but were unable to ascertain their condition, whether alive, injured, or deceased. The situation will become clear once the ground rescue team reaches their location.
Naiknam Karim, CEO of Adventure Tours Pakistan, the company that organized the expedition, told AFP that the rescuers identified the climbers by their clothes during the helicopter search but could not determine their condition. The search operation, initially halted due to poor weather conditions, is scheduled to resume on Friday with an eight-member rescue team, including five Japanese climbers.
Hiraoka and Taguchi had reached the base camp on June 3 and were attempting the climb in Alpine style, without the assistance of porters. Spantik Peak is known for being a “relatively accessible and straightforward peak,” making the incident even more concerning for the climbing community.
Pakistan, home to five of the world’s 14 mountains higher than 8,000 meters, including K2, the world’s second highest, remains a significant destination for mountaineers. According to official figures, over 8,900 foreigners visited the remote Gilgit-Baltistan region in 2023, highlighting the area’s allure for adventurers despite the inherent risks.