Former reality TV star Spencer Matthews has said he is praying "for a miracle" while the search continues for a group of mountaineers led by renowned British climber Nirmal Purja, who went missing in Pakistan after an avalanche.
Purja, known as Nims, was born in Nepal and served in the British Army and Royal Marines. He was leading an expedition of 10 climbers on Broad Peak, the world's 12th-highest mountain, in the north of Pakistan when the avalanche struck at about midday on Thursday.
Rescuers have managed to recover some of those who went missing as they resumed their search on Saturday, supported by military helicopters.
Matthews calls for restraint on social media
Matthews, 37, shared a photo with the mountaineer on Instagram and said the news from Broad Peak was "heartbreaking". In a separate story post, he urged people not to share "assumptions and news" on social media about what had happened in Pakistan, alongside his own broken heart emoji.
He wrote: "The mountains inspire us with their beauty but they also demand immense respect. Every person who ventures into that world understands the risks, yet they go anyway, driven by curiosity, purpose, passion, and a deep love for the places few will ever experience. The news from Broad Peak is heartbreaking. So many lives, families, friends and teammates now facing unimaginable loss. Our thoughts are with everyone affected by this tragedy. May those who have been lost be remembered not only for how they died, but for how they lived, the courage they showed, and the lived they touched. Rest in peace. To those not yet found, we pray for a miracle."
Connection to Finding Michael
Purja previously appeared with Matthews in the 2023 documentary Finding Michael, which followed the expedition to Mount Everest in search of the former Made In Chelsea star's late brother, Michael, who disappeared there in 1999. Along with Bear Grylls, Purja was enlisted by Matthews to help recover the body of Michael, the youngest Briton to summit Everest. Despite searching with a team, they did not locate him.
Record-breaking mountaineer
Purja rose to prominence in 2019 when he climbed all 14 of the world's mountains with peaks above 8,000 metres (26,247ft) in 189 days, smashing the previous record by more than seven years. The challenge was the focus of a Netflix documentary called 14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible.
Purja, 43, powered to the top of the mountains, each with peaks in the so-called "death zone", starting with Annapurna on April 23 2019 and taking in Everest in May and K2 in July. At the time, he said: "It has been a gruelling but humbling six months, and I hope to have proven that anything is possible with some determination, self-belief and positivity. I could not have made it happen without the unending support of my friends and family who have been in my heart this entire time. We started with nothing, but look how far we've come."
Purja served in the British military for 16 years, ten of which were spent in the special forces, and he was awarded an MBE by the late Queen in 2018 for his achievement in extreme high-altitude mountaineering. The cold weather warfare specialist said he was the first Gurkha to climb Everest while serving in the British military.
In 2016, he broke mountaineering conventions to rescue a climber left in the "Everest death zone", bringing her to safety alone.
Purja is one of five Nepalese climbers in the missing group, as well as mountaineers from Pakistan, Oman, the US and China and one foreign national from an unspecified country.
