Islamabad: A team of women climbers - one from Pakistan and another from Iran has reached the summit of K2, one of the world's highest and most dangerous mountain tops. They are the first women from their respective countries to achieve this feat.
K2 is known for one of the worst records for people dying on the way down. Only a few hundred people have ever reached the mountain peak on the Chinese-Pakistani border in the Karakorum Range.
Iran's Afsaneh Hesamifard was hailed by local media as the third woman to reach the top of Mount Everest in May. Samina Baig is from a remote village in Pakistan. They were among a group of women who climbed K2 on Friday.
High-altitude mountaineer Baig is the first Pakistani woman to climb Everest and the Seven Summits. She climbed Mt Everest in 2013 and then conquered all seven summits by 2014. She was also the first to climb the peak Chashkin Sar (above 6,000 meters) in Pakistan in 2010. The nation later renamed it Samina Peak after her.
According to Karrar Haidri, chief officer of the Pakistan Alpine Club, another Pakistani climber Naila Kiyano was also in the group and reached the summit a few minutes later than Baig.
K2 is considered to be extremely difficult to climb. Climbers are faced with sheer rocks rising 80 degrees, frequent and unpredictable avalanches, extremely cold weather, and strong wind. On Thursday, an Afghan climber Ali Akbar Sakki died due to a heart attack in an attempt to scale the second highest mountain after Everest.
Lebanese-Saudi fitness expert Nelly Attar was also part of the expedition. Climbers representing the United States, Lebanon, Nepal, Philippines, Estonia, Turkey, New Zealand, Australia, Hong Kong, Argentina, and the United Kingdom are part of the group scaling the savage mountain.