Nirmal Purja dies in Broad Peak avalanche in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir

Mountaineer Nirmal Purja, known widely as Nimsdai, died on 30 July in an avalanche on Broad Peak in Pakistan occupied Kashmir, and his body has since been recovered, New Indian Express reported. A former member of the British Gurkha Brigade and the Royal Navy's Special Boat Service, Purja rose to global fame after summiting all 14 eight-thousand-metre peaks in six months and six days in 2019, a feat that inspired the Netflix documentary 14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible. Broad Peak was part of a renewed attempt at all 14 peaks under a project called 3×14 Peaks, which the report said he had already completed once this time without supplementary oxygen. Fellow expedition member Pur Bahadur Gurung also died in the same avalanche. Climbers mentored by Purja and his team, including Sasikumar Gendham and Zuhra Cherukappalli, who had summited Everest with that team two months earlier, paid tribute to his discipline and empathy. Sasikumar said he and his daughter Nisha were to climb Mount Vinson with Purja this November.