MANSEHRA: The body of an Irish mountaineer, who went missing while descending from over 13,500-foot-high Musa Da Mussala peak in Siran Valley amid rough weather, was recovered on Wednesday from the dense forests.
“Forest officials and indigenous community members located the body at a gorge in the dense forest and it apparently seemed that the foreign mountaineer, who had separated from his British friend some four days ago while descending from Musa Da Mussala peak, slipped amid dense fog and rainy weather,” said Nasir Mehmood Satti, the deputy inspector general of police, who led the search operation.
The search team, comprising police, Forest Department and Rescue 1122 officials and members of the indigenous community, recovered the body and shifted it to Mandachucha, where the police had established a base camp during the four-day operation.
Satti said that the family of the deceased foreign mountaineer has reached the federal capital and his department would extend them full support and cooperation in completing the legal formalities. “The Hazara police are committed to the safety and protection of foreign visitors. The search operation has been completed in a highly difficult terrain and amid bad weather,” he added.
An official of the police department who took part in the operation said that the body of Alexander, who worked with an international nongovernmental organisation in Islamabad, took four hours to reach the base camp and was then transported to a health facility for medico-legal formalities.
“It would be premature to say what exactly caused the death. We found the body in a gorge in a difficult and densely forested area; it appeared that the mountaineer had slipped because of fog and rain,” he added.
Police sources confirmed to the media for the first time that a local guide was also accompanying the Irish mountaineer, Alexander, and his British friend, Alun David Cooper Cledwyn. He added that all the three started descending together on August 30 after successfully summiting the peak, but Alexander later separated from them. “According to the preliminary statement of the local guide, and as Cledwyn also confirmed, the deceased foreigner was far ahead of them amid the fog and heavy rain,” he added.
The foreigners had gone to Siran valley on August 28 to summit Musa Da Mussala peak without obtaining a no-objection certificate from the police and other relevant departments. The search operation, involving more than 250 police personnel assisted by two groups of mountaineers trained in such operations, members of the indigenous community familiar with navigating the Siran Valley and Forest Department officials, continued for three days despite the bad weather and dense fog.
