Climber Nirmal Purja and nine others killed in Broad Peak avalanche

Renowned climber Nirmal Purja and nine expedition members have died following a high-altitude avalanche on Pakistan's Broad Peak in the Karakoram range, according to his mountaineering company, Elite Expeditions.

The avalanche struck the 8,047-metre mountain around midday on Thursday, severing communication with the ten-person international team. High-altitude search and rescue operations subsequently recovered three bodies, identified by officials as climbers Nadhira Ahmed Abdullah Al Harthy of Oman, Pur Bahadur Gurun of Nepal, and Mallory Geis of the United States.

Search efforts continued for the remaining missing team members until Elite Expeditions confirmed on Saturday that all ten individuals perished in the slide. Purja, a Nepal-born former British Royal Marine, achieved international acclaim after scaling all 14 of the world's 8,000-metre peaks in under seven months, a feat featured in the documentary "14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible".

Sources: BBC News, FAZ, France24