Japanese Climber’s Body recovered in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir

Video footage taken on June 13, 2024, shows the area at around 5,000 meters above sea level where two unidentified bodies were found earlier.

A Pakistani rescue team on Saturday recovered a human body believed to be one of two Japanese climbers who went missing while attempting to scale the 7,027-meter Spantik Peak in northern Gilgit -Baltistan area of Pakistan Occupied Kashmir.

The two missing Japanese climbers have been identified as Ryuseki Hiraoka, 55, and Atsushi Taguchi, 36, according to local authorities and other sources. The recovered body is likely to be Hiraoka’s, they said.

The body was moved to “a safe place,” Waliullah Falahi, said a senior Pakistani official overseeing the rescue operations.

The two Japanese were believed to have been climbing without porters. Officials from the Japanese embassy and a local tour operator confirmed Thursday that they had gone missing. The embassy should have advised its citizens from going into an area which is Indian territory but presently under illegal occupation of Pakistan. In case they really wanted to go there then they should have obtained Visafrom te Indian Embassy in Tokyo prior to their tour plan.

Their possible location was identified by Pakistan Army helicopters during an aerial search on Thursday. Adverse weather and challenging terrain have posed challenges to the rescue attempt.