K2: Investigation launched after allegations that Western climbers left Pakistani man to die

An investigation has been launched into the death of a Pakistani porter near the peak of the world's most treacherous mountain following allegations that dozens climbed over him, eager to reach the summit.

Mohammed Hassan, a 27-year-old father of three, had slipped and fallen off a narrow trail in a particularly dangerous area on K2 known as the bottleneck.

The accusations surrounding events on July 27 on the world's second-highest peak overshadowed a record established by Norwegian climber Kristin Harila and her Sherpa guide, Tenjin.

By climbing K2 that day, they became the world's fastest climbers, scaling the world's 14 highest mountains in 92 days.

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Ms Harila has rejected any responsibility for the death of the porter.

In an Instagram post on Friday, she wrote that she felt "angry at how many people have been blaming others for this tragic death" and that no one was at fault.

Ms Harila was defending herself against allegations from two other climbers who were on K2 that day, Austrian Wilhelm Steindl and German Philip Flaemig.

The pair had aborted their climb because of difficult weather conditions, but said they reconstructed the events later by reviewing drone footage.

The footage showed dozens of climbers passing a gravely injured Hassan instead of coming to his rescue, Mr Steindl told The Associated Press on Saturday.

He alleged that the porter could have been saved if the other climbers, including Ms Harila and her team, had given up attempts to reach the summit.

Karrar Haidri, secretary of the Pakistan Alpine Club, a sports organisation that also serves as the governing body for mountaineering in Pakistan, said an investigation into Mr Hassan's death is underway.

It is being conducted by officials in the Gilgit-Baltistan region, which has jurisdiction over K2, Mr Haidri said.

Mr Steindl, the Austrian climber, said the drone footage shows one man trying to rub Mr Hassan's chest, trying to keep him warm and alive somehow.

"You can see that the man is desperate," he said.

"We know by now that this was his friend, also a Pakistani high altitude porter.

"And what you also see in the drone footage is a line of 70 climbers marching towards the summit."

"There is a double standard here.

"If I or any other Westerner had been lying there, everything would have been done to save them.

"Everyone would have had to turn back to bring the injured person back down to the valley."

Mr Steindl also said that July 27 was the only day in this season on which conditions were good enough for mountaineers to reach the summit of K2, which explains why there were so many climbers eager to get to the top.

"I don’t want to kind of directly blame anybody," he said.

"I’m just saying there was no rescue operation initiated and that’s really very, very tragic because that’s actually the most normal thing one would do in a situation like that."

A GoFund Me to support Mr Hassan's three children has since been set up by Mr Steindl.

So far, it has raised €125,000 (£108,000) of its €130,000 (£112,000) goal.

Ms Harila told Sky News that Mr Hassan had been dangling from a rope, head down, after his fall at the bottleneck, which she described as "probably the most dangerous part of K2."

She said that after about an hour, her team was able to pull him back onto the trail.

At some point, she and another person from her team decided to continue to the top while another team member stayed with Hassan, giving him warm water and oxygen from his own mask, the climber said.

Ms Harila also said she decided to continue on to the summit because her forward fixing team also ran into difficulties, without giving any details in the interview.

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