ROME: Pakistani military helicopters have rescued an Italian climber 48hours after he suffered serious injuries in a fall in the northernKarakoram mountains, officials said on Monday.
Francesco Cassardo, a 30-year-old doctor from the northern Piedmont region,on Saturday gave up on reaching the 6,955-metre summit of Gasherbrum VIIand was returning to base camp when he fell, Italian media reported.
Climbing companion Carlo Alberto Cimenti, 43, said Cassardo had hit severalrocks before stopping at around 6,300 metres.
The Pakistani army said that Cassardo has “a broken femur as well as necktrauma”.
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Rescue helicopters were unable to reach Cassardo over the weekend, citingrarefied air because of higher temperatures at high altitude.
On Sunday, four climbers from Poland and Canada arrived to help, bringingthe injured climber down to base camp at 5,900 metres on an improvisedstretcher. -APP/AFP
