Islamabad mourns ten climbers lost in Broad Peak avalanche

A solemn candlelight vigil was held in Islamabad on Saturday to honor the ten mountaineers who died in an avalanche on Broad Peak late last month. The memorial brought together families, fellow climbers, and diplomats in the Pakistani capital.

Nepal's Ambassador to Pakistan, Rita Dhital, attended the ceremony, holding a candle alongside a banner bearing the victims' names. Children and adults alike gathered in the fading light to pay their respects to the international expedition team.

"It's a very sad event for both Nepal and Pakistan, because we have lost our most acclaimed mountaineers, ten mountaineers in a single day," Dhital said. "We all have become speechless, struggling to find words to express our condolences and to speak about the courage and determination with which they have achieved so much in such a short span of time."

Pakistani mountaineer Nazir Sabir also addressed the gathering, remembering his friend Sohail and the other nine climbers. "Sohail was a young, a lot younger friend, but he represented a different generation of mountaineering in this country," Sabir said.

The vigil comes days after military helicopters, with assistance from rescuers and fellow mountaineers, airlifted the bodies of renowned British-Nepali climber Nirmal Purja and four others from Broad Peak's snow-covered slopes to the northern city of Skardu. That operation brought the total number of recovered bodies to eight, according to officials.

The avalanche swept away the entire 10-member expedition in late July, marking one of the deadliest single incidents in recent mountaineering history on the world's 12th-highest peak.