KATHMANDU, FEBRUARY 08
Filmmaker Elia Saikaly shared in a recent post that Imtiaz and Akbar, Ali Sadpara's cousin and nephew, are pushing an attempt to locate Sadpara, John Snorri and Juan Pablo Mohr.
In an eventful attempt of K2 winter expedition, the three lost contact to the base camp as weather was too harsh on February 05, 2021.
Imtiaz and Akbar, who arrived at the base camp more than 24 hours ago, had been assisting to retrieve Sajid (Ali Sadpara's son) to the base of K2. They are ascending K2 today for the search.
Imtiaz shared, "Ali is a brother to us. A hero for Pakistan. We will climb as high as we can within our limits. There is hope, but we know the reality of the mountain, especially in winter."
Akbar then said, "When Ali left base camp, he had the Pakistani flag with him. Every time he climbs, he has the mountain close to his chest, Pakistan is in his veins and blood. He's our hero."
Sajid had returned back with an oxygen failure, without his father. He is the last person to see Ali Sadpara and the other two at the bottleneck late in the morning.
Meanwhile, bad weather forced Pakistani army helicopters to temporarily halt their search for the three mountaineers on the third day, today.
According to the Associated Press, the search was stopped just hours after it resumed for the third consecutive day, with officials uncertain when weather conditions would improve enough for it to resume again.
In an emotional note, Elia Saikaly shared this afternoon, "Yesterday, I embarked on one of the SAR missions with the pilots who identified a few potential leads that synced up with the yellow and red down suits that John and Ali were wearing. From a great distance, it proved to be a solid lead, but unfortunately with a telephoto lens, close fly by and expanded view later on a laptop showed that these leads unfortunately turned out to be a similarly colored tent, mat and sleeping bag. It's been a whirlwind of emotions at base camp, anticipating a miracle, praying that somehow John, Ali and JP are still alive."
He shared, "Where there is hope there could be life."
