TODAYonline

They escaped death on K2

Two S’poreans could have been with 11 who died in avalanche

Teo Xuanwei

xuanwei@mediacorp.com.sg

THEIR days’ plan was to climb from Camp 3 to Camp 4, then return to base camp.

Accomplished Singaporean mountaineers Edwin Siew and Robert Goh were on an acclimatisation climb, to prepare their bodies for their summit push in three or four days. Little did they know, then, how close they came to being additional statistics in a tragedy.

Hours before they set off on Sunday, they were roused from sleep by a call from base camp, with the chilling news of an ice avalanche at a steep gully called the Bottleneck near the summit.

“We were really shocked,”Dr Goh, 42, told Today in a satellite phone interview from K2’s base camp yesterday evening. “We were asked if we could stay at Camp 3 to help in the rescue operations. At that time, they said three were dead. And then the death toll started to rise by the hour.”

Eleven climbers have been confirmed dead so far following the catastrophic ice fall on the world’s second highest peak — the worst on the 8,611m Himalayan mountain in more than 20 years.

The list includes three South Koreans, two Nepalis, two Pakistanis, a Serbian, an Irishman, a Norwegian and a Frenchman.

The avalanche swept away fixed lines that climbers use for descent at the site of the accidents, which is known to climbers as the “Dead Zone” because of the extremely low temperatures and low oxygen levels.

Officials said Pakistan army helicopters had airlifted two frostbitten Dutch climbers off the mountain, while an attempt to evacuate an Italian climber was postponed because of stormy weather.

Mr Siew, 38, and Dr Goh would have been part of the group affected by the ice fall if not for the fact that they were late. The duo went to a pass in Nepal 4,000m above sea level for a week in June to train for their conquest of K2, which left them behind the rest of the climbers, some of whom started the ascent from base camp on July 27.

Said Dr Goh: “One of the climber’s wives saw her husband fall off a very high cliff and disappear into the clouds below. Some others, like the Korean climbers, got frozen on the walls of the mountains. Bit by bit, their fingers first, then hands, arms, thighs and legs. And they just shiver and tremble to death.

“A very slow, painful death.”

The mood at the base camp now, where many of the survivors are, added a despondent Dr Goh, was “very bad”. He said: “Nobody is celebrating. Even those who have reached the summit do not think it is an achievement.”

“People are very, very sad. It’s like you lost one of the members in your family. The guy who was sitting and eating with you, is now no longer there.”

The two and their sherpas were not aware when the avalanche occurred. “We didn’t see anything at all. You can’t hear anything because the mountain is so big,” said Dr Goh.

They have not decided on whether to continue the expedition. “We will discuss it with other teams from other countries.”