A game of life and death on K2

Imagine death moving towards you moment by moment.

There are familiar people around to save your precious life, but they pay no attention. And you die slowly, suffering from blood-curdling cold and lamenting the indifference of your companions.

Such a death will certainly be called tragic and terrible. This is not an imaginary scenario, but this sad incident has appeared some time ago on the “killer mountain”.

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It is the last week of July 2023. When the weather became pleasant, the famous mountaineers came to Pakistan from all over the world and got busy in the task of climbing K-To, the second highest world peak.

Among them are the helpers who help the climbers in carrying the equipment and installing and removing the ropes. They are commonly called porters. Among these helpers was a Pakistani, 27-year-old Mohammad Hassan.

The accident that happened to him on K2 highlighted the indifference and stone-heartedness of some people, while it also highlighted the philanthropy and kindness of others. At the same time, this incident also became an indelible image of the eternal love of mother and child.

Muhammad Hassan belonged to a poor family in a village located in Baltistan. He used to do various jobs to earn a living. When the mountain climbing season came, he would help local and foreign mountaineers and earn four paise. It would only go up to the base camp, which is usually built at an altitude of 5,000 meters.

From there the climbers then start climbing the 8611 meter mountain. This time but Muhammad Hasan went towards the peak with the climbers. The reason was that his mother is diabetic. So much money was needed for her treatment. Hasan loved his mother very much. For that he was ready to go to the top and put his life at risk.

People who go to an altitude of eight thousand meters wear special clothes to protect themselves from extreme cold. Remember, if any part of the human body is exposed in extreme cold, it rots and deteriorates. Hassan has such There were no expensive clothes, yet they got along with the climbers.

It is surprising that the foreign climbers did not bother to give their spare clothes to this poor Pakistani helper. He did not hesitate to ask anyone for special clothes. However, this process cost him a lot.

By 2:15 a.m. on July 27, Hasan along with other climbers reached the height of 8200 meters. In fact, the slope is very high in this place, while the glacier is standing on top. Therefore, it is possible to walk there only with the help of ropes. Avalanche is also common in this place when the snow slides down from its place. It seems

An accident happened

Muhammad Hasan’s foot was accidentally torn off at the “bottleneck” and he fell down eighteen feet. It is not known what was the reason for the toe tearing? Did his feet become numb from the severe cold? Or exhaustion caused this accident? However, if Hasan had not been tied with a rope, he would have rolled and fallen into the depths to his death. The rope stopped him. Still, he hung there upside down for fifty minutes. Two or three climbers pulled him up with great difficulty and laid him on the path. Among them was a helpful Pakistani friend.

Muhammad Hasan was now unable to walk. He may have suffered an internal injury due to the fall and hitting the rock. He even lost his sense of speech and hearing. After this accident, two or three mountaineers must have died. Together they would pick up the injured Hasan and bring him down to give him medical attention.

But the kind of callousness and indifference shown by the foreign mountaineers became an unforgettable event. Europeans and Americans, who gave decades for the teaching of human rights and the suffering of animals, continued to climb over an injured person. No one tried to save him.

Only one friend of the unfortunate Hasan was sitting next to him. He tried his best to save Hassan, but he became dear to Allah. Thus, the father of three children rubbed his heels and died. The killer Pahar killed another person. Life took over.

This event might have been limited to the local media, but due to the film of a drone camera, it became prominent at the world level. It happened that day, Philip Flaemig, a German mountaineer, filmed his ascent with his drone camera. In this film, the injured Hasan was also seen a few times, who was being passed by mountaineers while jumping.

Philip Fleming was accompanied by his friend, Austrian mountaineer Wilhelm Steindl. When he saw the possibility of an avalanche at the “bottleneck”, he took no chances and returned to base. Came to camp.

When he saw the footage of the drone camera there, he realized the seriousness of the injured Hasan’s accident. The film of Hasan was shot at 5:30 in the morning. And then he was alive because in the film he is seen moving his leg.

The sole earner

Hasan but passed away after that. His body was left there in the “bottleneck” because no foreign mountaineer was willing to help the deceased’s friend, a Pakistani porter, and he could not bring the body down alone. When Philip Fleming and Wilhelm Stendhal When it came to know that Hasan had passed away, he was very sad. He went to the deceased’s house and met his mother, wife and children.

He realized that he was living a life of great deprivation and poverty. Hassan was the only earner of the house. Now the women were worried that how will the expenses of the house go?

Philip Fleming and Wilhelm Stendhal collected donations from fellow climbers, contributed money themselves, and gave all the money to Hasan’s mother.

Not only that, Wilhelm Stendhal created a page on gofundme.com to collect money for Hasan’s family. People from all over the world donated and proved that the earth is not empty of good people yet. More than 132,000 euros have been collected for Bex and forced families. This capital is not a substitute for the son, husband and father, but it will definitely enable the grandmother and widow to live with dignity and respect, the children. Nurture well and do not spread your hands in front of others.

Obsessed with making records

Muhammad Hasan’s tragic death had a profound effect on Wilhelm Stendhal. On his return to Europe, he fell to the bewildered Western climbers. When we saw the movie, it was revealed to us that the Pakistani porter (Hasan) is lying on the road in an injured state.

While all the climbers were jumping over him, ignoring him and moving on. However, only three people were enough to take him to the peace camp.

“It is very disturbing and shocking that mountaineers, in their frenzy to set a record, did not care for a precious human life and left him to die helplessly. Even though you take an oath before climbing a mountain that they Will help each other as much as possible.

If such an event happened in the Alps (European mountain range) and a Westerner was injured, all the machinery would be set in motion to help him. If it had happened, arrangements would have been made to bring him to the base camp immediately. Since Muhammad Hassan was a poor Pakistani, no serious effort was made to save his life, considering him to be insignificant.

This painful incident seemed to highlight two conflicting human emotions. On the one hand, there were insensitive people who preferred to fulfill their personal desires instead of helping the injured Muhammad Hassan. He was very saddened by the death. He made all possible efforts to help the widow and the three children of the deceased. Thanks to such compassionate people, goodness and goodness exist on earth.

This event was highlighted at the international level because on July 27, Norwegian mountaineer Kristin Harila (Kristin Harila) was also moving towards the summit. And she, along with her companions, reached Hasan’s Phalangati Peak. Thus, she became the first mountaineer to climb the fourteen highest peaks in the world in the shortest time (three months and one day). K2 was the last peak in Christine’s career.

This is a unique honor that the Norwegian mountaineer achieved, but in order to achieve it, he had to ignore an injured person who was in a dying condition. She could have asked her porters to take Hasan down if she wanted, but Christine Harlea preferred to continue climbing. This inhumane spirit obscured her achievement. Christine Harlea was criticized internationally. had to face

Christine Harleane returned to base camp and organized a big party to celebrate her success. Wilhelm Stendhal was also invited but he did not attend. He says: “I did not participate in the event. I found it all very inhumane.” In fact, humanity was humiliated in this way. They left a living person to die to make their record. Can any conscious and sensitive person do such an act?