South Korean Paralympic athlete presumed dead after falling from Pakistan’s Broad Peak

• The Korean Paralympic athlete was presumed dead after the Broad Peak disappeared.
• 57-year-old Kim Hong-bin climbed to the top with other climbers on Sunday, but encountered bad weather on his way down the mountain.
• The climber fell into a crack on the Chinese side of the mountain.

Islamabad: The Pakistan Alpine Club stated that a South Korean Paralympic athlete disappeared after falling from the 8,047 meters (26,400 feet) Broad Peak in northern Pakistan, the 12th highest peak in the world, on Tuesday.

The club stated that the 57-year-old Jin Hongbin participated in alpine skiing on behalf of his country at the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Paralympics. He climbed to the top with other climbers on Sunday, but encountered bad weather on his way down the mountain.

Jin fell into a crack on the Chinese side of the mountain, which is part of the Karakoram Mountains on the Pakistan-China border.

“Everyone else is looking for him, but they can’t stay there, they have to come down,” the head of the Alpine Club, Karrar Haidri, told Reuters“A search operation is currently underway. When the weather permits, the helicopter will join the work.”

A day ago, the club reported that Kim had died.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in said in a tweet that he would hope to find Kim Jong-un and wait for him to return safely.

Broad Peak is Kim’s last attempt to climb the 14 highest peaks in the world. It is called “Yaqian Mountain” because all peaks are over 8,000 meters. He climbed Mount Everest in 2007.

Moon’s news came after he congratulated Kim on becoming the first disabled person to climb all 14 peaks.

“Hong Bin is now the first disabled person in the world to climb all eight thousand peaks,” Haidley said.

In 1991, Kim was frostbited and lost all his fingers while climbing in Mount Denali, Alaska. Then he started alpine skiing and participated in a national paragliding competition.

South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesperson Choi Young-san said at a briefing that the South Korean Foreign Ministry asked Pakistan and China to help find Kim Jong-un.

Cui said that both parties agreed, and Pakistan stated that if the weather permits, the helicopter will take off as soon as possible.

Kim also established an organization to teach mountaineering and other outdoor sports to disabled children.

In February, three climbers — Mohamed Ali Zapala from Pakistan, Jon Snowy from Iceland and Juan Pablo Moore from Chile — were trying to reach the world’s second highest peak in Pakistan. Unfortunately, he died at K2 at an altitude of 8,611 meters.