The Italian ambassador to Pakistan Stefano Pontecorvo informed on Saturday that the bodies of two climbers missing from northern Pakistan have been found. The news comes after two weeks the climbers went missing. In his tweet he said that the bodies of the two men had been identified from aerial photos.
With great sadness I inform that the search for 🇮🇹 @NardiDaniele and 🇬🇧 Tom Ballard is over as @AlexTxikon and the search team have confirmed that the silhouettes spotted on Mummery at about 5900 meters are those of Daniele and Tom. R.I.P. #NangaParbat pic.twitter.com/vBmsRKJgKC
— Stefano Pontecorvo (@pontecorvoste) March 9, 2019
Tom Ballard and Daniele Nardi made their last contact on Feb 24th as they climbed the worlds 9th highest peak, Nanga Parbat.
“It hurts to announce that the search is officially over,” he wrote.
“The search team has confirmed that the silhouettes spotted … at about 5,900 meters are those of Daniele and Tom.”
A statement on Nardi’s Facebook page confirmed the deaths.
“We inform you that the research of Daniele and Tom has ended,” the post said. “A part of them will always remain on the Nanga Parbat.”
Pakistan had closed its airspace on Wednesday due to elevated tensions with India. This caused the delay as the rescue teams had to wait for permission to send up a helicopter.
