South Asia News

Rescued Italian climbers heading home

Jul 26, 2008, 11:58 GMT

Islamabad - The two Italian climbers who were rescued from a deadly Himalayan peak two days ago left Islamabad on Saturday for Milan.

Simon Kehrer and Walter Nones were attempting a new route up Nanga Parbat (the Naked Mountain in the Urdu language), when their teammate and celebrated mountaineer Karl Unterkirchner fell to his death in a crevasse on July 15.

Both remained stranded on the 8,126-metre 'Killer Mountain' until Thursday, when an army helicopter evacuated them to the nearby town of Gilgit, from where they arrived in Islamabad the following day.

The two climbers departed from Islamabad airport at 12:30 local time (06:30 GMT) on a British Airways flight BA0128 and were expected to reach at London Heathrow airport on board 15:49 BST (14:49 GMT).

From Heathrow airport the mountaineers were to take British Airways flight BA0574 at 19:30 BST (18:30 GMT) for Malpensa (Milan).

Though relieved at their rescue, Kehrer and Nones expressed sadness over the death of their friend when they spoke with media in Islamabad Friday.

'It was a great tragedy that we lost a good friend of ours, a great climber and the chief of our team. We offer our deep condolences to the wife and three children of our friend who are back in Italy,' said Walter.

However, they expressed resolve to continue mountaineering. 'It's a passion. We always risk our lives. We are in God's hands,' said Kehrer.