A Dubai resident led a team of climbers to retrieve the body of a mountain porter who went missing on the notorious K2 last year.
Pakistani mountain climber Naila Kiani recovered the body of Muhammad Hassan Shigri on Monday from the Bottleneck of K2, an icy narrow gully with steep sides covered in glacial ice, at a height of 8.2km.
Mr Shigri, a 25-year-old Pakistani mountain porter, lost his life in July 2023. Reportedly, he fell from a path in the narrow area when accompanying an international team.
Ms Kiani, a seasoned climber who has scaled 11 out of 14 of the world’s highest peaks above 8km, was contacted by Mr Shigri's family who made a plea for assistance.
When approached by Mr Shigri’s family, Ms Kiani decided to lead the mission to retrieve the body and help them find closure.
“It was an incredibly risky operation because it (the Bottleneck) is basically a big ice wall,” said Ms Kiani.
“K2 is notorious for rock fall and 8,200 metres is very high to bring a dead body down because the body is frozen.
“I met the family and they requested me to (rescue the body).
“By taking undertaking this mission, not only I did I want to help the family, but also highlight that we have amazing strong high-altitude workers in Pakistan.”
Mounting mission
Ms Kiani brought together a team of Pakistani climbers who dug out the body from snow at the K2 Bottleneck on July 29, reaching advance base camp on July 31.
Pakistani climbers Dilawar Sadpara, Akbar Hussein Sadpara, Zakir Hussein Sadpara, Mohammed Murad Sadpara and Ali Mohammed Sadpara helped retrieve the body under the guidance of Ms Kiani.
“I was very careful about using the word congratulations. But they (Mr Shigri's family) said it to me, so I was very happy that maybe the family had the closure that they wanted,” said Ms Kiani.
Last year, the circumstances surrounding Mr Shigri's death drew international attention. Despite numerous climbers passing by, Mr Shigri, an inexperienced high-altitude porter who did not have proper gear, died.
Until his attempt to scale the mountain, Mr Hassan had limited his climbing to the K2 base camp but decided to go to the summit to earn more money to treat his mother, who was in poor health.
The incident underscored the need for improved training, better equipment, and better ethical standards in mountaineering.
Mr Shigri's death also lead to a global debate after a video emerged that showed climbers stepping past his body to reach the top.
“Hassan had told me he wanted to earn enough before winter to be able to shift the family to an area with moderate weather,” Mr Hassan’s brother Muhammad Hussain told The National at the time.
“I was already in Pakistan to manage a clean-up project at K2 at the time and somebody suggested that I should help the family because they had been trying to request the government for help since last year,” said Ms Kiani.
“I had a clean-up team already, I had the whole infrastructure, the kitchen, the gear needed for climbers.”
K2, which is on the Chinese-Pakistani border, has a formidable reputation. Only a few hundred climbers have ever reached the summit.
The summit of Mount Everest, in contrast, has been reached almost 12,000 times.
Since Ms Kiani was not sure if the body was at the K2 Bottleneck, she sent a team to look for the body. In order to keep costs down, she hired more porters who were already at the base camp and sent them to help retrieve the body after it had been found.
She stressed the need for training high-altitude workers and equipping them with proper gear in Pakistan.
“The gap is that we don't have a single internationally qualified, high altitude worker or guide,” she said.
“None of the climbers are internationally trained and qualified.
“That stops some foreign climbers from hiring the locals and they bring Westerners or Nepali guides.”
Through this mission, Ms Kiani hoped to send a message on the importance of improving local standards in the industry.
“These porters are heroes, they make other climbers’ dreams come true, because they guide us, but they don't get glory,” she said.
“I've been very vocal about their rights for a long time and this mission was an opportunity for me to be their voice to showcase what they can do, and talk about their rights and their training.”
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Euro 2020 qualifier
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Sholto Byrnes on Myanmar politics
Farage on Muslim Brotherhood
Nigel Farage told Reform's annual conference that the party will proscribe the Muslim Brotherhood if he becomes Prime Minister.
"We will stop dangerous organisations with links to terrorism operating in our country," he said. "Quite why we've been so gutless about this – both Labour and Conservative – I don't know.
“All across the Middle East, countries have banned and proscribed the Muslim Brotherhood as a dangerous organisation. We will do the very same.”
It is 10 years since a ground-breaking report into the Muslim Brotherhood by Sir John Jenkins.
Among the former diplomat's findings was an assessment that “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” has “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
The prime minister at the time, David Cameron, who commissioned the report, said membership or association with the Muslim Brotherhood was a "possible indicator of extremism" but it would not be banned.
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Starring: Denzel Washington, Bill Pullman, Melissa Leo, Ashton Sanders
Three stars
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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Closing the loophole on sugary drinks
As The National reported last year, non-fizzy sugared drinks were not covered when the original tax was introduced in 2017. Sports drinks sold in supermarkets were found to contain, on average, 20 grams of sugar per 500ml bottle.
The non-fizzy drink AriZona Iced Tea contains 65 grams of sugar – about 16 teaspoons – per 680ml can. The average can costs about Dh6, which would rise to Dh9.
Drinks such as Starbucks Bottled Mocha Frappuccino contain 31g of sugar in 270ml, while Nescafe Mocha in a can contains 15.6g of sugar in a 240ml can.
Flavoured water, long-life fruit juice concentrates, pre-packaged sweetened coffee drinks fall under the ‘sweetened drink’ category
Not taxed:
Freshly squeezed fruit juices, ground coffee beans, tea leaves and pre-prepared flavoured milkshakes do not come under the ‘sweetened drink’ band.
Company%C2%A0profile
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ETuhoon%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EYear%20started%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EJune%202021%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ECo-founders%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFares%20Ghandour%2C%20Dr%20Naif%20Almutawa%2C%20Aymane%20Sennoussi%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ERiyadh%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3Ehealth%20care%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESize%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E15%20employees%2C%20%24250%2C000%20in%20revenue%0D%3Cbr%3EI%3Cstrong%3Envestment%20stage%3A%20s%3C%2Fstrong%3Eeed%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EWamda%20Capital%2C%20Nuwa%20Capital%2C%20angel%20investors%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Earth under attack: Cosmic impacts throughout history
- 4.5 billion years ago: Mars-sized object smashes into the newly-formed Earth, creating debris that coalesces to form the Moon
- 66 million years ago: 10km-wide asteroid crashes into the Gulf of Mexico, wiping out over 70 per cent of living species – including the dinosaurs.
- 50,000 years ago: 50m-wide iron meteor crashes in Arizona with the violence of 10 megatonne hydrogen bomb, creating the famous 1.2km-wide Barringer Crater
- 1490: Meteor storm over Shansi Province, north-east China when large stones “fell like rain”, reportedly leading to thousands of deaths.
- 1908: 100-metre meteor from the Taurid Complex explodes near the Tunguska river in Siberia with the force of 1,000 Hiroshima-type bombs, devastating 2,000 square kilometres of forest.
- 1998: Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 breaks apart and crashes into Jupiter in series of impacts that would have annihilated life on Earth.
-2013: 10,000-tonne meteor burns up over the southern Urals region of Russia, releasing a pressure blast and flash that left over 1600 people injured.
The years Ramadan fell in May
The National Archives, Abu Dhabi
Founded over 50 years ago, the National Archives collects valuable historical material relating to the UAE, and is the oldest and richest archive relating to the Arabian Gulf.
Much of the material can be viewed on line at the Arabian Gulf Digital Archive - https://www.agda.ae/en
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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%3Cp%3ETotal%20trade%20in%20goods%20and%20services%20(exports%20plus%20imports)%20between%20the%20UK%20and%20the%20UAE%20in%202022%20was%20%C2%A321.6%20billion%20(Dh98%20billion).%C2%A0%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EThis%20is%20an%20increase%20of%2063.0%20per%20cent%20or%20%C2%A38.3%20billion%20in%20current%20prices%20from%20the%20four%20quarters%20to%20the%20end%20of%202021.%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%C2%A0%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EThe%20UAE%20was%20the%20UK%E2%80%99s%2019th%20largest%20trading%20partner%20in%20the%20four%20quarters%20to%20the%20end%20of%20Q4%202022%20accounting%20for%201.3%20per%20cent%20of%20total%20UK%20trade.%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Rain Management
Year started: 2017
Based: Bahrain
Employees: 100-120
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The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
