Mountaineer is pictured celebrating reaching K2 summit just moments after 'walking over dying porter'
![Footage shows climbers walking over the dying Sherpa, in yellow](https://www.gbnews.com/media-library/footage-shows-climbers-walking-over-the-dying-sherpa-in-yellow.png?id=34858953&width=1200&height=800&quality=90&coordinates=0%2C200%2C0%2C201)
Footage shows climbers walking over the dying Sherpa, in yellow
Instagram @lapka_mountaineering and @8000club
Footage shows climbers walking over the dying Sherpa, in yellow
A Norwegian mountaineer has faced criticism after she celebrated her summit of the mountain K2, after climbing “over a dying porter” just moments before.
Kristin Harila, a record-breaking mountaineer, allegedly climbed over the injured sherpa whilst she was trying to become the world’s fastest climber to scale all peaks above 8,000 metres.
Whilst Harila succeeded in her goal, it has come at a cost, with many criticising her of being “more interested in setting records” than helping somebody in dire need.
Mohammed Hassan, 27, fell off an edge of the mountain, lying seriously injured 1,300 from the summit of K2.
Kristin Harila was criticised by many for not helping Mohammed Hassan
Instagram @kristin.harila
Drone footage has emerged of the Norwegian and her team, including Nepali Sherpa Tenjen (Lama) Sherpa), celebrating their achievement despite having clambered over the dying porter minutes before.
Wilhelm Steindl and Philip Flämig, who recorded the footage with their drone, described the scene on the mountain that day.
Flämig told Austria’s Standard newspaper: “He is being treated by one person while everyone else is pushing towards the summit. The fact is that there was no organised rescue operation although there were Sherpas and mountain guides on site who could have taken action.”
The video captured via drone shows people physically climbing over Hassan. Eventually one person helped him, who stayed with him until he died of his injuries.
There was no rescue operation to help the Sherpa.
However, Harila denies claims that her and her team ignored Hassan, who lay helplessly dying in the deep snow.
She said herself and her team did everything they could to help the Sherpa but the conditions on K2 were too treacherous to try and move him.
"It is simply not true to say that we did nothing to help him,” she told the Telegraph.
“We tried to lift him back up for an hour and a half and my cameraman stayed on for another hour to look after him. At no point was he left alone.
“Given the conditions, it is hard to see how he could have been saved. He fell on what is probably the most dangerous part of the mountain where the chances of carrying someone off were limited by the narrow trail and poor snow conditions.”
The Norwegian record-breaker took to social media to share her accomplishment, as she was now the first person to summit 14 of the world’s highest peaks in just three months, but was faced with endless criticism.
Instagram users slammed her under her post, saying “shame on you”, “where is your humanity” and calling her “reckless”.
Harila responded to her criticizers, telling them to “be kind”.
She added: “I hope we can learn something from this tragedy. Hassan was not properly equipped to take on an 8,000m summit.
“What happened is in no way his fault but it shows the importance of taking all of the possible precautions so that we can help ourselves and others.
K2 is considered to be one of the deadliest mountains in the world
Wikimedia Commons
She concluded: “It is truly tragic what happened and I feel very strongly for the family.”
Lakpa Sherpa, who witnessed the incident said to the MailOnline that the footage doesn’t show the true story.
“Some of the climbers and sherpas tried to save his life although he passed away.
“The climbers have all spent a lot of money to do this climb and there is the value of time too for the climb. Hundreds of climbers tried to save him but they cannot give up their mission.
Steindl, who captured the footage with his drone told Austria’s standard newspaper, that he was disgusted by his fellow climbers actions.
He said: “Such a thing would be unthinkable in the Alps. He was treated like a second-class human being.
“If he had been a westerner, he would have been rescued immediately,” he added. “No one felt responsible for him. What happened there is a disgrace. A living human was left lying so that records could be set.”
K2 is regarded as one the deadliest mountains in the world, with data from 2018 showing over a fifth of attempted summits resulted in deaths.
It is regarded as harder than Everest, the tallest mountain in the world, due to K2’s topography.
For every 20 people who summit Everest, only one summits K2.