Bureau Report
MANSEHRA: The body of Irish mountaineer Alexander, who went missing while descending from the 13,500-foot-high Musa Da Musalla peak in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Siran Valley amid rough weather, was recovered on Wednesday from the dense forests of the Paracha Khatta area.
On Monday, it was reported that the two mountaineers — Irish national Alexander, along with a British national, Alun David Cooper Cledwyn — went missing while descending the peak.
The police had maintained that the climbers went to Siran Valley on Friday to summit Musa Da Musalla without obtaining a no-objection certificate from the police or other relevant departments.
“Forest officials and locals spotted the body in a gorge in the dense forest. It appeared that the foreign mountaineer, who had separated from his British friend about four days ago while descending from Musa Da Musalla peak, slipped amid dense fog and rainy weather,” said Nasir Mehmood Satti, the deputy inspector general of police (DIG), who also led the search operation.
The search team, comprising police, Forest Department and Rescue 1122 officials, as well as members of the local community, recovered the body and shifted it to Mandachucha, where the police had established a base camp during the four-day operation.
DIG Satti said the family of the deceased foreign mountaineer had reached Islamabad and that his department would extend them full support and cooperation in completing the legal formalities.
“The Hazara police are committed to the safety and protection of foreign visitors, and the search operation has been completed in highly difficult terrain and amid bad weather,” he said.
A police official who took part in the operation said it took four hours to bring Alexander’s body to the base camp, from where it was transported to a health facility for medico-legal formalities.
