KATHMANDU, Aug 6: The funeral of world-renowned Nepali mountaineer and record-holder Nirmal Purja (“Nims Dai”), who died in an avalanche on Pakistan’s Broad Peak, will be held in the United Kingdom, according to his family.
Purja was leading a 10-member expedition team when the fatal avalanche struck during the Broad Peak climb on July 29. As his immediate family resides in London, his funeral will be conducted there in accordance with religious traditions.
Although Purja’s body was located and identified on August 1, it could only be brought down to the base camp on Wednesday afternoon due to adverse weather and the difficult location where it had come to rest, which made recovery more challenging than that of the other climbers.
Bodies of Nirmal Purja, three other climbers brought to Broad P...
According to family sources, memorial activities would also be organized in Dana, Annapurna Rural Municipality-3 of Myagdi, his ancestral home, as well as in Chitwan, where he spent his childhood, after the funeral in London.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, Purja’s company, Elite Exped, said the bodies of Nirmal Purja, Nima Sherpa, Zhong Wang and Kilu Sherpa had been successfully recovered from Broad Peak and transported to base camp after an extremely challenging rescue operation. The bodies are expected to be flown to London by Friday night or Saturday.
The family said additional legal procedures in the UK would also take time before the final rites could be performed.
The recovery operation was supported by the Government of Pakistan, the Pakistan Army, the British High Commission, the Gilgit-Baltistan government, the Embassy of Nepal in Pakistan and the Alpine Club of Pakistan.
Purja joined the British Army in 2003 after being selected through the British Camp in Pokhara. He completed his basic military training at the Army Training Centre in Catterick, UK, before serving with the Queen’s Gurkha Engineers in the painting and decoration trade.
Later serving as a mountain specialist for the UK Ministry of Defence, Purja led the Gurkha Expedition 2017, during which 13 British Gurkha soldiers successfully summited Mt. Everest.
He also received the prestigious Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) after rescuing a fellow climber during an Everest expedition.
Purja gained global recognition by climbing all 14 peaks above 8,000 meters without supplemental oxygen in record time. He also achieved rare feats on K2 and held 18 Guinness World Records for his mountaineering accomplishments.
