Two Japanese missing on K2 in Pakistan; rescue being mounted

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K2, which at 8,611 meters, is the world’s second-highest peak. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

Two Japanese climbers have gone missing while attempting to scale K2, the world’s second-highest peak.

According to reports, the two mountaineers slipped and fell on the 8,611-meter-high mountain in Pakistan on July 27.

It is not known if they survived.

Kazuya Hiraide and Kenro Nakajima, a mountain photographer, are regarded as world-class climbers.

Information on the incident came from Ishii Sports, a mountaineering equipment sales company to which the two men belonged, and people associated with the matter.

They said they received a call from local authorities in Pakistan around 11:30 a.m. on June 27 that the mountaineers had slipped at the 7,000-meter point.

Attempts were made to rescue them by helicopter, but due to the altitude and angle of the slope, it was impossible to land, so an attempt was mounted to rescue them from the ground.

Hiraide and Nakajima are known as world-class mountaineers, having received the French “Piolet d’Or” (golden ice axe), known as the “Oscar of the mountaineering world.”