Nine climbers have died on K2, the world’s second highest peak

Gilgit (Pakistan), Aug. 3 (Reuters): At least nine climbers have died on K2, the world’s second highest peak, in Pakistan in one of the blackest days in the sport of mountaineering and the toll could rise, expedition organisers said today. Those confirmed dead included three South Koreans, two Nepalese, along with Serbian, Norwegian, Dutch and French climbers.
Unconfirmed reports said one Pakistani had died and several foreign and local climbers were unaccounted for.
Catastrophe struck on Friday, when a chunk of ice broke from a serac, a pillar or cuboid of ice, and tore away fixed lines from a perilous steep gully known as the Bottleneck, above 8,200 metres.