A Pakistani inquiry will look into the circumstances of the death of Muhammad Hassan, 25, a mountain porter who accompanied an international team in their attempt to climb K2, the world's second-highest peak.
Reports said that during the push to the summit on July 27, Mr Hassan fell from a narrow path known as the Bottleneck on the 8,600-metre mountain.
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 is in poor health.
“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.
“Our mother suffers from asthma and has trouble breathing. This area’s weather is too harsh for her.”
Tourism authorities in Pakistan's Gilgit Baltistan, who are responsible for climbing permits, said on Friday they had opened an inquiry into the incident.
Mr Hassan was an employee of Lela Peak Expedition. Seven Summit Club, a company offering services to mountaineers, had assigned him to assist the rope fixers during the summit push.
A dispute broke out in the climbing community after a video emerged that appeared to show a train of climbers stepping past Mr Hassan to reach the top.
Drone footage posted on social media showed the team of Norwegian mountaineer Kristin Harila, who was heading to the summit in a world record attempt to become the fastest climber to climb all peaks above 8,000 metres, leaving behind the injured Mr Hassan in a condition that purportedly led to his death.
Mr Hassan was not part of Ms Harila's team.
She told the BBC that she and her team tried everything to help Mr Hassan, denying accusations that he was left to die.
He is survived by three sons.
“It is a tragedy that the team, which Hassan was part of, could not even bring his body with them when they descended from K2,” Mr Hussain said.
“If someone from an affluent family were to face such a tragedy, a helicopter would have been used to rescue the body. In this country, no one cares about the poor.”
K2, on the Chinese-Pakistani border in the Karakoram range, has a deadly reputation, with climbers most often dying on the descent, where the slightest mistake can trigger an avalanche.
Only a few hundred climbers have reached the summit.
In contrast, the summit of Mount Everest has been reached more than 9,000 times.
Last village
Iskolai is the last village from the mountaineers begin their journey to K2's summit.
Accompanying the mountaineers are porters, each of whom carries up to 25kg of luggage to base camp.
High-altitude porters take over at base camp and accompany the mountaineers to the summit.
While the Iskolai-to-base camp porters earn 1,500 rupees ($5) for each trip, the charges increase up to 5,000 rupees for the high-altitude porters.
“Some high-altitude porters go ahead of their team to fix ropes during the climb, this is why their job is very difficult,” said Hamza Murad, who serves as assistant commissioner of the district.
Mr Murad told The National it was not possible to recover Mr Hassan’s body from the Bottleneck, where it is lying at an altitude of more than 7,900 metres, because of the harsh conditions.
“Even a helicopter cannot go there to rescue it,” he said.
Mr Hussain also used to work as a porter but was advised not to climb the mountains because his feet were affected with a disease.
“Hassan was the lone breadwinner for our family,” he said.
Neighbour Ahmed Chotsar said Mr Hassan was a hardworking porter.
“Several porters work only for a few months of the year, but Hassan used to work in these extremely cold area all round the year,” he said.
Ayaz Shigri, who serves as president of the Baltistan Tour Operators Association, told The National that a big problem for local mountaineers was the lack of proper training.
While the government had announced plans to set up a mountaineering school in the area several years ago, they were not put into action, he said.
Also, he said the local mountaineers and high-altitude porters often use second-hand equipment and many do not have equipment of the calibre used by the foreign climbers.
Mr Hassan was “not properly equipped for the climb”, wearing neither a down suit nor gloves, Ms Harila wrote on Instagram.
The Bottleneck area is considered the riskiest point on the final K2 ascent.
Pakistani mountaineer Ali Sadpara died on K2 along with a fellow climber in February 2021.
Company Profile:
Name: The Protein Bakeshop
Date of start: 2013
Founders: Rashi Chowdhary and Saad Umerani
Based: Dubai
Size, number of employees: 12
Funding/investors: $400,000 (2018)
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In numbers: China in Dubai
The number of Chinese people living in Dubai: An estimated 200,000
Number of Chinese people in International City: Almost 50,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2018/19: 120,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2010: 20,000
Percentage increase in visitors in eight years: 500 per cent
LA LIGA FIXTURES
Friday Celta Vigo v Villarreal (midnight kick-off UAE)
Saturday Sevilla v Real Sociedad (4pm), Atletico Madrid v Athletic Bilbao (7.15pm), Granada v Barcelona (9.30pm), Osasuna v Real Madrid (midnight)
Sunday Levante v Eibar (4pm), Cadiz v Alaves (7.15pm), Elche v Getafe (9.30pm), Real Valladolid v Valencia (midnight)
Monday Huesca v Real Betis (midnight)
So what is Spicy Chickenjoy?
Just as McDonald’s has the Big Mac, Jollibee has Spicy Chickenjoy – a piece of fried chicken that’s crispy and spicy on the outside and comes with a side of spaghetti, all covered in tomato sauce and topped with sausage slices and ground beef. It sounds like a recipe that a child would come up with, but perhaps that’s the point – a flavourbomb combination of cheap comfort foods. Chickenjoy is Jollibee’s best-selling product in every country in which it has a presence.
What are the influencer academy modules?
- Mastery of audio-visual content creation.
- Cinematography, shots and movement.
- All aspects of post-production.
- Emerging technologies and VFX with AI and CGI.
- Understanding of marketing objectives and audience engagement.
- Tourism industry knowledge.
- Professional ethics.
UAE SQUAD
Omar Abdulrahman (Al Hilal), Ali Khaseif, Ali Mabkhout, Salem Rashed, Khalifa Al Hammadi, Khalfan Mubarak, Zayed Al Ameri, Mohammed Al Attas (Al Jazira), Khalid Essa, Ahmed Barman, Ryan Yaslam, Bandar Al Ahbabi (Al Ain), Habib Fardan, Tariq Ahmed, Mohammed Al Akbari (Al Nasr), Ali Saleh, Ali Salmin (Al Wasl), Adel Al Hosani, Ali Hassan Saleh, Majed Suroor (Sharjah), Ahmed Khalil, Walid Abbas, Majed Hassan, Ismail Al Hammadi (Shabab Al Ahli), Hassan Al Muharrami, Fahad Al Dhahani (Bani Yas), Mohammed Al Shaker (Ajman)
RESULTS
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What sanctions would be reimposed?
Under ‘snapback’, measures imposed on Iran by the UN Security Council in six resolutions would be restored, including:
- An arms embargo
- A ban on uranium enrichment and reprocessing
- A ban on launches and other activities with ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons, as well as ballistic missile technology transfer and technical assistance
- A targeted global asset freeze and travel ban on Iranian individuals and entities
- Authorisation for countries to inspect Iran Air Cargo and Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines cargoes for banned goods
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Where to donate in the UAE
The Emirates Charity Portal
You can donate to several registered charities through a “donation catalogue”. The use of the donation is quite specific, such as buying a fan for a poor family in Niger for Dh130.
The General Authority of Islamic Affairs & Endowments
The site has an e-donation service accepting debit card, credit card or e-Dirham, an electronic payment tool developed by the Ministry of Finance and First Abu Dhabi Bank.
Al Noor Special Needs Centre
You can donate online or order Smiles n’ Stuff products handcrafted by Al Noor students. The centre publishes a wish list of extras needed, starting at Dh500.
Beit Al Khair Society
Beit Al Khair Society has the motto “From – and to – the UAE,” with donations going towards the neediest in the country. Its website has a list of physical donation sites, but people can also contribute money by SMS, bank transfer and through the hotline 800-22554.
Dar Al Ber Society
Dar Al Ber Society, which has charity projects in 39 countries, accept cash payments, money transfers or SMS donations. Its donation hotline is 800-79.
Dubai Cares
Dubai Cares provides several options for individuals and companies to donate, including online, through banks, at retail outlets, via phone and by purchasing Dubai Cares branded merchandise. It is currently running a campaign called Bookings 2030, which allows people to help change the future of six underprivileged children and young people.
Emirates Airline Foundation
Those who travel on Emirates have undoubtedly seen the little donation envelopes in the seat pockets. But the foundation also accepts donations online and in the form of Skywards Miles. Donated miles are used to sponsor travel for doctors, surgeons, engineers and other professionals volunteering on humanitarian missions around the world.
Emirates Red Crescent
On the Emirates Red Crescent website you can choose between 35 different purposes for your donation, such as providing food for fasters, supporting debtors and contributing to a refugee women fund. It also has a list of bank accounts for each donation type.
Gulf for Good
Gulf for Good raises funds for partner charity projects through challenges, like climbing Kilimanjaro and cycling through Thailand. This year’s projects are in partnership with Street Child Nepal, Larchfield Kids, the Foundation for African Empowerment and SOS Children's Villages. Since 2001, the organisation has raised more than $3.5 million (Dh12.8m) in support of over 50 children’s charities.
Noor Dubai Foundation
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum launched the Noor Dubai Foundation a decade ago with the aim of eliminating all forms of preventable blindness globally. You can donate Dh50 to support mobile eye camps by texting the word “Noor” to 4565 (Etisalat) or 4849 (du).
The biog
Date of birth: 27 May, 1995
Place of birth: Dubai, UAE
Status: Single
School: Al Ittihad private school in Al Mamzar
University: University of Sharjah
Degree: Renewable and Sustainable Energy
Hobby: I enjoy travelling a lot, not just for fun, but I like to cross things off my bucket list and the map and do something there like a 'green project'.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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