Two decorated Japanese climbers fell on Saturday from K2, the world's second-highest mountain in northern Pakistan, with their conditions currently unknown, the Japanese Embassy in Islamabad said.
The two men are Kazuya Hiraide, 45, and Kenro Nakajima, 39, mountain photographers belonging to the climbing equipment store operator Ishii Sports Co., the Tokyo-based company said.
The two climbers fell from a height of 7,500 meters off the 8,611-meter K2, according to local reports. A Pakistani military helicopter found the two but could not land, so authorities are trying to rescue them from the ground, Ishii Sports said.
The two have won numerous awards, with Hiraide known for climbing famous peaks in Pakistan, China, and other countries since 2001. In 2016 he received a prize in honor of Japanese adventurer Naomi Uemura, which is awarded to people known for their achievements in nature.
At a press conference in 2017, Hiraide said, "For me, climbing is about carving out my own path, not following somebody else's route."
He has also received the prestigious "Piolet d'Or" French mountaineering award three times, and in 2013, he accompanied and filmed the ascent of Japanese adventurer Yuichiro Miura, then 80, to the summit of Mt. Everest.
Nakajima, meanwhile, went on three overseas expeditions and successfully conquered two previously unclimbed peaks while still a university student. Along with Hiraide, he won the "Piolet d'Or" twice.
There have recently been several mountain accidents involving Japanese climbers in Pakistan.
Earlier this month, a 64-year-old climber fell to his death while descending the 7,027-meter Spantik Peak in northern Pakistan.
In June, two Japanese climbers went missing while trying to scale the mountain, also known as Golden Peak, in the Gilgit-Baltistan region.
The body of one of the climbers was later recovered, but the search for the other has been called off.
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