A mountain guide from Darjeeling, Pemba Sherpa, has gone missing during his descent from the Saser Khangri peak in the Karakoram Range. Sherpa, a resident of Gandhi Road locality in the town, had gone for an expedition organised by the Mountaineers Association Krishnagar (MAK).

He reportedly went missing on 13 July. Other members of the expedition have already reached the base camp, according to his family.

On Sunday, an ITBP team joined the rescue operation.

“Someone from the expedition called my father at around 10.30 on Friday night, saying that an accident had taken place and that my uncle was missing while climbing down. We have no other information. My uncle was an experienced climber and a good humoured person; we are worried about his safety and are praying that nothing bad has happened,” said Nima Tenzing, who is Sherpa’s nephew.

According to Tashi Sherpa, Pemba’s brother who was also part of the one-month expedition, the Krishnanager Club had hired them.

“We left Darjeeling together on 19 June for Kolkata and the next day, we left for Karakoram. The climb was probably to start on 28 June, but I am not sure of it as I returned from the first base camp after I fell sick,” he said.

Saser Khangri is the highest peak in Saser Muztagh, the easternmost sub-range of the Karakoram Range, which is within Jammu and Kashmir. Saser Khangri IV is at a height of 7410 meters with climbers having to camp four times before they reach the summit.

“The accident could have taken place between the third and fourth camps by whatever information I got so far from the expedition members. Connectivity is a problem due to which we have not been able to get any more information,” said Tashi, who reached Darjeeling on 3 July after treatment at a hospital in Ladakh.

According to the social media posts of Dream Wanderlust, an officer at Nubra police station said: “Glacier search operation is in process. ITBP Jawans along with a team of Sherpas are trying their best to find the missing climber.”

It is suspected that Pemba Sherpa fell in a crevasse on the way back.

The search team went deep into the crevasse with the help of ropes and other equipment on Sunday afternoon. Unfortunately, the crevasse is so deep and dark that they couldn’t find any trace of the missing climber.

Pemba Sherpa, who also climbed Mount Everest on eight occasions as a guide with different expedition teams, has a wife, two daughters aged 15 and 17 and a 14-year-old son.

He successfully summited the peak Saser Kangri IV with a team of climbers from West Bengal and Pune. The team was led by Basanta Singha Roy from West Bengal.

“My father went for the Himalayan summit on June.19. Last time when he spoke to us he said that he is returning and I wish that he is found as early as possible,” said one of his daughters, urging the the state government to extend support so that the seasoned mountaineer could be found.

(With agency inputs)