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Omani legend, US novice: Pakistan recovers bodies from Broad Peak | News

Rescuers are still looking for other missing climbers swept away in an avalanche on the world’s 12th largest peak.

Rescuers continue the search for six climbers still missing after an avalanche hit Pakistan’s Broad Peak, as officials identified one of the four recovered bodies as Nadhira Al Harthy, the first Omani woman to summit Mount Everest.

Pakistani authorities recovered three of the bodies on Friday in harsh weather that hampered flights by search and rescue helicopters, officials said, and identified them as Nepalese climber Pur Bahadur Gurung and American climber Sarah Mallory Geis, as well as Harthy.

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The officials did not immediately identify the fourth body that was found.

The expedition comprised five Nepali climbers, the Omani and American climbers, Pakistani climber Sohail Sakhi, a Chinese climber identified only as Wang, and one other foreign climber, according to the Alpine Club of Pakistan.

The expedition leader was the renowned mountaineer Nirmal Purja, a Nepal-born former soldier in the British army widely known as Nims Dai. He climbed the world’s 14 highest peaks in a record 189 days in 2019, an achievement featured in the Netflix documentary, 14 Peaks: Nothing is Impossible. His record was surpassed in 2023.

A file photo of Nirmal Purja, one of the team member of the all-Nepalese mountaineering team that became the first to scale Mount K2 in winter, gestures as the team arrives at Tribhuwan International airport in Kathmandu, Nepal on Jan. 26, 2021. [Niranjan Shrestha/AP Photo]
A file photo of Nirmal Purja, one of the team members of the all-Nepalese mountaineering team that became the first to scale Mount K2 in winter, gestures as the team arrives at Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu, Nepal on January 26, 2021 [Niranjan Shrestha/AP Photo]

The climbers were swept away in an avalanche on the 8,051-metre (26,414ft) peak, the world’s 12th-highest mountain, about midday on Thursday. The area in which the search is taking place is “remote and difficult”, said Sajid Hussain, deputy director of the tourism department in Gilgit-Baltistan.

Of the world’s 14 highest peaks, eight are in Nepal, five in Pakistan and one in Tibet. Climbing experts say barely more than three dozen mountaineers have climbed all 14 peaks to date. Broad Peak is considered one of Pakistan’s most challenging climbs.

Nepal’s Gurung, known to his friends as Yukta, climbed Everest more times than anyone else from the Gurung community, with 10 successful ascents to his name, Nepal’s Online Khabar noted. He also successfully climbed 12 of the world’s 8,000-metre (26,246ft) peaks.

Yukta had also set a record by summiting Pakistan’s K2, the world’s second-highest peak, within 24 hours. He was regularly involved in rescue operations for tourists stranded in the mountains.

Oman’s Al Harthy held a master’s degree in geography and previously served as director of the Citizenship Department at Oman’s Ministry of Education, Gulf News reported. In 2019, she became the first Omani woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest, and then the first Omani to climb K2, the world’s second-highest mountain.

For the US’s Geis, it was her first try at an 8,000-metre peak in Pakistan.

Geis, 39, lived in San Antonio. She announced on social media earlier this year that she was closing her Pilates studio to take “a giant leap of faith into the unknown to see where life goes. I have a sneaking suspicion there will be lots of helmets, harnesses, and crampons involved.”

Sakhi was a guide for the company, as well as a geographer and high-altitude photographer who had climbed several of the world’s major peaks.

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Usyk vs Rico: Ukrainian heavyweight champion stops novice in controversial 11th-round stoppage win

The Pyramids of Giza loomed over a purpose-built open-air arena for one of boxing’s most unusual world title fights in recent memory.

A kickboxing heavyweight legend who ruled his sport for more than 4,000 days, Verhoeven sprinted to the ring at around 01:10 local time, flanked by performers dressed as Egyptian pharaohs, before Usyk emerged in a gladiator-style outfit complete with a golden helmet.

Verhoeven, who insisted his unpredictability could trouble Usyk, made a lively start with constant movement and energy, landing a solid right hand to the body.

Usyk responded with a sharp double uppercut in the second, but Verhoeven absorbed it well and fired back with two right hands of his own.

Boxing royalty including Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez, Terence Crawford, Gennady Golovkin and Anthony Joshua watched on from ringside, alongside Hollywood star Jason Statham – the man credited with helping to bring the fight together.

Another right hand from Verhoeven landed flush on Usyk in the third round.

Usyk – so often the sport’s master of patience – was forced to dig deep. He briefly responded in the fourth, hurting Verhoeven with a straight right and stinging left.

“Get back to your boxing, you’re getting too greedy, trying to land and getting caught,” Verhoeven’s trainer Peter Fury warned his man.

Verhoeven entered the sixth round for the first time in his fighting career – kickboxing bouts are capped at five rounds, and his only previous professional boxing fight ended inside two.

He stuck to the trainer’s instruction and a lethargic Usyk was rocked again in the eighth by a right hand, but the champion came alive in the 10th and 11th, unleashing a flurry of punches and repeatedly finding the uppercut – the shot that had given him his most success all night.

Verhoeven spat out his gumshield while Usyk immediately protested at the added time his opponent was given to recover.

Usyk surged again and sensed the finish. Verhoeven was visibly hurt and a stoppage may have come in the 12th round had the fight continued.

Arguably, Verhoeven should have been allowed the chance to see it through.

Instead, the referee stepped in and waved off what will go down as a contentious stoppage.

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