ISLAMABAD: A French woman has been found alive but suffering frostbite and unable to walk on a Himalayan mountain, while rescuers were still trying to reach another Polish climber, according to Polish media reports.
Two Pakistani military helicopters began an operation Saturday to rescue the two European mountain climbers after they got stuck while trying to reach the peak of Nanga Parbat in Pakistan.
Karrar Haidri, a top official of the Pakistan Alpine Federation, said four volunteers from a Polish expedition were airlifted to the base camp of Pakistan's Nanga Parbat mountain and dropped close to the two stranded climbers: Tomasz Mackiewicz of Poland and Elisabeth Revol of France.
He said the volunteers had spotted the two mountaineers, and were climbing to 7,000 meters (22,965 feet) above sea level to try to reach them.
Later Saturday, Polish media, which have followed the developments closely, reported that Revol had been found alive, citing tweets by a friend and other sources. She had frostbite on her feet, could not walk and the operation to get her off the mountain was expected to be difficult.
Mackiewicz reportedly is suffering from snow blindness and altitude sickness. A day earlier his sister was quoted in Polish media as saying it would be a miracle if he survives.
Earlier in the day Haidri said the local weather was bad, with temperatures at minus 60 degrees Celsius at the height where the climbers are stuck.
A military statement said the two military helicopters began the rescue mission on the request of the Polish and French embassies.
The 8,126-meter (26,660-foot) Nanga Parbat is the ninth-highest in the world.