Veteran Pakistani mountaineer Ali Raza Sadpara, who had received serious injuries after falling from a mountain, passed away on Friday.
On May 17, mountaineer Ali Raza Sadpara had fallen off a mountain during a routine climbing practice session near his village in Gilgit and sustained serious injuries.
According to Ali Raza’s family, he was under treatment at a hospital, where he breathed his last. They said he was taken for treatment after fracturing his spinal cord and several ribs.
Ali Raza Sadpara’s funeral prayers took place at the Olding village’s graveyard at 10am.
Sadpara was eyeing to summit K2 — the highest peak in Pakistan — this season. This was the only peak left for him to climb among all the eight-thousanders in Pakistan.
He has summited the Broad Peak, Gasherbrum I, Gasherbrum II and Nanga Parbat for a record collective 17 times. No other Pakistani has summited mountains over 8,000 metres.
Sadpara had made two attempts to summit K2 in the past but both went unsuccessful due to the weather. He was also said to be the coach for prominent mountaineer Ali Sadpara, who passed away last year attempting to climb the K2, Hasan Sadpara and numerous other climbers.
Fellow climbers, politicians, journalists and civil society members expressed condolences to his family and described Sadpara’s death as a “huge loss” for mountaineering in Pakistan. They further recognised the climber for his contributions to the promotion of adventure tourism. Saad Munawar, Sadpara’s expedition manager, was also bereaved by the news.
Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa expressed grief on the sad demise of the renowned mountaineer. The ISPR director-general shared the condolence message of the army chief on his official Twitter handle. “May Allah Almighty bless the departed soul in eternal peace, Ameen,” the COAS said in his message.
