Pakistan hopes for Saturday rescue on deadly K2

Pakistani authorities said Friday they planned to send a helicopter mission Saturday to pluck Western climbers off K2, the world's second-highest peak, after the tragic accident that left seven dead.

But mountaineering sources told Reuters that the rescue flight to a camp on the 28,250-ft. high mountain from the nearest town of Skardu in northern Pakistan would depend on the weather, which prevented a similar mission Friday.

"The weather is not so good, even now," an expedition organizer at Skardu told Reuters by telephone Friday evening.

"There are very low and heavy clouds (in the area) and it all depends if it clears up tomorrow," said Nazir Sabir, who scaled K2 in 1981 and now runs a firm that helps organize expeditions.

An army officer earlier said the rescue mission set for Friday had been put off to Saturday "when we will make another attempt."

The climbers at the camp, about 90 minutes by helicopter from Skardu, belong to three teams from which seven climbers were killed in the accident near K2's freezing summit Sunday.

British diplomats in Islamabad told Reuters they were investigating reports of the deaths of two other British mountaineers last week while climbing Haramosh peak in the same region.

They said there was a five-man team climbing the mountain but did not know any other details.

Sabir said he had also heard about the death of two Britons on Haramosh August 12, but did not know their names.

This story prepared by Reuters and updated by the Outside Online staff