A rescue team on Saturday recovered a human body believed to be one of two Japanese climbers who went missing while attempting to scale the 7,027-meter Spantik Peak in northern Pakistan, according to a Pakistani official.
The two missing climbers have been identified as Ryuseki Hiraoka, 55, and Atsushi Taguchi, 36, according to local authorities and other sources. The recovered body is likely to be Hiraoka's, they said.
The body was moved to "a safe place," Waliullah Falahi, a senior official overseeing the rescue operations, told Kyodo News.
The two Japanese were believed to have been climbing without porters. Officials from the Japanese embassy and a local tour operator confirmed Thursday that they had gone missing.
Their possible location was identified by Pakistan Army helicopters during an aerial search on Thursday. Adverse weather and challenging terrain have posed challenges to the rescue attempt.
