Mountain climbing team accused of abandoning injured person on world's second highest peak

Drone footage shows Mohammad Hassan, 27, lying badly injured on ice about 400m from the treacherous summit of K2. Dozens of climbers were near him on a narrow ledge, but it was clear they had left him behind and continued their climb to the summit.

Hassan, a local porter and father of three, was fixing ropes for climbers when he fell from a cliff near the summit, which is about 8,200m high.

The victim was lying on the path to the top of the world's second highest mountain.

Norwegian climber Kristin Harila and her team are believed to have overtaken Hassan but she rejected accusations that they did nothing to help the stricken man.

By climbing K2, Harila set a record for climbing the world's 14 highest peaks in just over 3 months to become the fastest climber to conquer all peaks above 8,000m.

The incident has sparked outrage in the climbing community over the treatment of sherpas as "second-class human beings".

K2 (also known as Godwin-Austen Peak, Lambha Pahar, Chogori, Kechu or Dapsang) is located on the border between Xinjiang, China and Pakistan, recognized as the second highest mountain in the world with an altitude of 8,611m, after Everest. It is one of the 14 highest mountains in the world (higher than 8,000m) and is the last peak to be conquered by humans in winter. Compared to other peaks, the path to the top of K2 is considered the most difficult and dangerous journey.

Austrian climber Philip Flamig, who was climbing K2 with Wilhelm Steindl on the same day, said drone footage the pair took showed climbers stepping over Hassan's body instead of helping.

"There was no organised rescue operation, in fact, although there were sherpas and mountain guides on site who could have acted. If he had been a Westerner, he would have been rescued immediately. No one felt responsible for him. What happened there was a disgrace. To set the record straight, the victim was left alone," he added.

Harila has denied the allegations, saying her team did everything they could to save Hassan but conditions were too dangerous to move the victim.

"It's not true that we did nothing to help him. We tried to lift him for an hour and a half and my cameraman stayed for another hour to look after him. In those conditions, it's hard to know how to save him. He fell on what was probably the most dangerous part of the mountain, where the chances of carrying someone down were limited by the narrow trail and poor snow conditions," she told the Telegraph.

K2 is one of the 14 highest mountains in the world.

Meanwhile, Lakpa Sherpa, a local climber, said that efforts were being made to save Hassan. "All the climbers had spent a lot of money to carry out their plans and their time climbing was also valuable. Hundreds of climbers tried to rescue the victim but they could not give up their plans. It was very difficult to bring the body down. They had to go to the top of the mountain," he said.

Pakistani investigators will interview international climbers as they probe Hassan's death. "We have collected initial information and will start questioning those who were present at the time of the accident," said Rahat Karim Baig, a member of the investigation committee.

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