12.08.09 - 11:39 -
Recent photo of Óscar Pérez (right) with Álvaro Novellón. / EFE
Spanish climber Óscar Pérez remains incommunicado at 6,300 meters (20,655) on Pakistan's Latok I peak after suffering a fall in which he broke an arm and a leg so that he is unable to move, the president of the Peña Guara Club of Huesca told Efe.
Nonetheless, Manolo Bara appeared optimistic because several different expeditions are headed for the area and a helicopter has reached the base camp of a U.S. mountaineer.
Meanwhile the club is wrapping up preparations for expedition members to take rescue equipment to Pakistan, Bara said.
The director of the Television Española program "Al Filo de lo Imposible" (On the Edge of the Impossible), Sebastian Alvaro, is in the area and will act as coordinator of the rescue operation.
"We're optimistic," Bara said. "We're working to rescue Óscar Pérez and we want to see him here soon, though the situation is complicated because he's at 6,300 meters (20,600 feet) and a lot depends on conditions, especially the weather, so it's not easy."
The climber, who was with his buddy from the Álvaro Novellón Club, fell last Saturday and broke an arm and a leg as he was scaling the north face of Latok I, which rises 7,145 meters (23,456 feet) above sea level.
On Monday the Pakistan army launched an operation to attempt the first stage of rescuing Pérez with a helicopter.
