ISLAMABAD, 11 August 2005 — The Pakistani Army yesterday rescued a Slovenian mountaineer who had been trapped for five days on a 6,000-meter high precipice of the Nanga Parbat mountain in the Himalayas.
Pakistan Army spokesman Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan said that two helicopters were sent in after dawn yesterday to sling-lift 36-yeas-old Tomaz Humar and evacuate him to a military hospital in the far northern town of Gilgit.
Humar was “perfectly all right” after the ordeal, the army official said.
Humar was reported to have been trapped in an icy shaft about 6,000-meters above sea level while climbing the Nanga Parbat mountain. He was reported to have been low on supplies and battling hypothermia.
Around dawn yesterday, two Lama helicopters rescued Humar and moved him to Gilgit. Two other attempts to rescue Humar failed because of bad weather in the area, the army said.
Alpine Club president and Humar’s close friend Nasir Sabir told reporters, “He said he was beginning to give up hope. He had traveled very light, he had no food left and very little water.”
Humar was receiving medical treatment for dehydration and swollen feet and hands and hoped to return to the capital Islamabad later yesterday.
“I spoke to him earlier and I could tell he was crying. He was saying how grateful he was to the Pakistani Army pilots and everyone else for saving his life,” Sabir added.
Humar left his ground crew in hopes of reaching the 8,125-meter Nanga Parbat peak alone, but was caught in a harsh cold front.
Nanga Parbat is also known as “Killer Mountain.” Located in the western Himalayas in the far north of Pakistan, it is the world’s ninth highest peak.
