An investigation has been launched into the death of a Pakistani porter near the peak of the worldB次元官网网址檚 most treacherous mountain, a Pakistani mountaineer said Saturday (Aug. 12), following allegations that dozens of climbers eager to reach the summit had walked past the man after he was gravely injured in a fall.

The accusations surrounding events on July 27 on , overshadowed a record established by Norwegian climber and her Sherpa guide Tenjin. By climbing K2 that day, they became the worldB次元官网网址檚 fastest climbers,

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Harila rejected any responsibility for the death of the porter, Mohammed Hassan, a 27-year-old father of three who slipped and fell off a narrow trail in a particularly dangerous area of K2 known as the bottleneck. In an Instagram post Friday, she wrote that she felt B次元官网网址渁ngry at how many people have been blaming others for this tragic deathB次元官网网址� and that no one was at fault.

Harila was defending herself against allegations from two other climbers who were on K2 that day, Austrian Wilhelm Steindl and German Philip Flaemig. The pair had aborted their climb because of difficult weather conditions, but said they reconstructed the events later by reviewing drone footage.

The footage showed dozens of climbers passing a gravely injured Hassan instead of coming to his rescue, Steindl told The Associated Press on Saturday. He alleged that the porter could have been saved if the other climbers, including Harila and her team, had given up attempts to reach the summit.

B次元官网网址淭here is a double standard here. If I or any other Westerner had been lying there, everything would have been done to save them,B次元官网网址� Steindl said. B次元官网网址淓veryone would have had to turn back to bring the injured person back down to the valley.B次元官网网址�

Harila told Sky B次元官网网址 that Hassan had been dangling from a rope, head down, after his fall at the bottleneck, which she described as B次元官网网址減robably the most dangerous part of K2.B次元官网网址� She said that after about an hour, her team was able to pull him back onto the trail.

At some point, she and another person from her team decided to continue to the top while another team member stayed with Hassan, giving him warm water and oxygen from his own mask, the climber said.

Harila said she decided to continue moving toward the summit because her forward fixing team also ran into difficulties which she did not further detail in the interview.

Asked about HassanB次元官网网址檚 gear, Harila said that he did not wear a down suit and he didnB次元官网网址檛 have gloves, nor did he have oxygen. B次元官网网址淲e didnB次元官网网址檛 see any sign of either a mask or oxygen tank,B次元官网网址� she said.

Meanwhile, an investigation has been launched into HassanB次元官网网址檚 death, said Karrar Haidri, the secretary of the Pakistan Alpine Club, a sports organization that also serves as the governing body for mountaineering in Pakistan. The investigation is being conducted by officials in the Gilgit-Baltistan region which has jurisdiction over K2, said Haidri.

Anwar Syed, the head of Lela Peak Expedition, the company handling HarilaB次元官网网址檚 expedition, said Hassan died about 150 meters (490 feet) below the summit. He said several people tried to help, providing oxygen and warmth, to no avail.

Syed said that because of the bottleneckB次元官网网址檚 dangerous conditions, it would not be possible to retrieve HassanB次元官网网址檚 body and hand it to the family. He said his company gave money to HassanB次元官网网址檚 family and would continue to help, but did not elaborate.

Asked about HassanB次元官网网址檚 apparent lack of equipment, Syed said the expedition company pays money to porters to buy gear, and that Hassan was paid the agreed upon amount.

SteindlB次元官网网址檚 fellow climber, Flaemig, alleged in an interview with the Austrian newspaper Der Standard that Hassan had no high-altitude experience. B次元官网网址淗e wasnB次元官网网址檛 equipped properly. He did not have experience. He was a base camp porter and for the first time was picked to be a high-altitude porter. He wasnB次元官网网址檛 qualified for this,B次元官网网址� he said.

Steindl visited HassanB次元官网网址檚 family and set up a crowd-funding campaign. After three days, donations reached more than 114,000 euros ($125,000) Saturday.

B次元官网网址淚 saw the suffering of the family,B次元官网网址� Steindl told AP. B次元官网网址淭he widow told me that her husband did all this so that his children would have a chance in life, so that they could go to school.B次元官网网址�

Zarar Khan And Kirsten Grieshaber, The Associated Press

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