S. Korean climber Park Young-seok feared missing in Himalayas

Published : Oct 20, 2011 - 11:13 Updated : Oct 21, 2011 - 09:44

The Korean Alpine Federation announced Thursday it was searching for three missing Korean climbers last seen heading for a summit in the Himalayas in north-central Nepal.

Korean veteran mountaineer Park Young-seok, Gang Gi-seok and Shin Dong-min were on the south face of Annapurna, aiming to push for the 8,091-meter summit on Friday.

Park and his team left their base camp on Oct. 17, aiming for the summit via a new route on the south side.

Park had told the base camp that they were in extreme conditions with rocks falling from the peak due to heavy snow.

He last contacted the base camp on Tuesday at 7 p.m. Korean time, and since then there has been no contact, according to the KAF.

A spokesman from the KAF said he was very concerned as it seemed there had been an accident.

The KAF has found no sign of him despite a search on the mountain by helicopter on Thursday, the official said.

“Generally in 36 hours the searching team would have expected to see him, and they did not. So we think he must have been in an accident,” the spokesman added.

Park has climbed all 14 eight-thousanders and skied to both the North and South Poles. He carved a new route to Mt. Everest in 2009. Last year, Park tried to scale Annapurna’s south face, but failed to reach the summit due to bad weather conditions.

Park said before this year’s expedition that he must reach the summit no matter what the conditions.

“I won’t just return home like last time, I will reach the summit no matter how long it will take,” he said before his departure.

By Oh Kyu-wook (596story@heraldcorp.com)

This file photo shows Park Young-seok who has apparently gone missing during his climb of Annapurna in the Himalayas. (Yonhap)

"At the base camp, we have a lot of amateur climbers, such as television crew, and we have to search with workers from Katmandu," the KAF official said. "Sherpas will be part of the search mission."

Annapurna is one of the world's 14 highest peaks, which are collectively called "eight-thousanders," since each is at least 8,000 meters above sea level.

Park, 47, has already scaled Annapurna and returned this year to try a different route on the southern side of the mountain.

Park is the first of four South Koreans to have climbed all 14 eight-thousanders. In 2005, he became the first in the world to complete the true Adventurers' Grand Slam, which entails reaching the North Pole and the South Pole, and scaling the 14 highest peaks.

<한글기사>

박영석 히말라야서 실종된듯..수색작업 개시

산악인 박영석(48) 대장이 히말라야 안나푸르나 를 등반하다가 연락이 두절돼 구조대가 수색작업에 나서기로 했다.

20일 대한산악연맹에 따르면 박 대장은 지난 18일 오후 4시 위성전화를 한 것을 마지막으로 캠프와 교신이 끊겼다.

박 대장은 그때 마지막 전화에서 "기상 상태가 나쁘고 낙석이 많아 하산한다"고 말했다.

박 대장이 베이스캠프를 떠난 지 하루밖에 되지 않았지만 연락까지 두절됐다는 점 때문에 사고 가능성이 거론되고 있다.

연맹 관계자는 "얼마 되지 않은 거리를 간 뒤에 하산한다는 연락을 하고 36시간 이 지난 아직도 소식이 없다는 점 때문에 실종이 아닌가 하는 생각을 하고 있다"고 말했다.

연맹과 박영석탐험문화재단은 현지에서 날이 밝는 대로 네팔 카트만두에서 헬리 콥터를 띄워 수색작업에 들어갈 계획이다.

연맹 관계자는 "베이스캠프에는 방송, 카메라 기자 등 비전문 인력이 많아 카트 만두에서 수색인력을 데려와야 한다"며 "셰르파들이 직접 수색하고 헬리콥터로도 살 펴볼 계획"이라고 말했다.

연맹은 사무실에 별도로 사고대책반을 꾸리는 방안도 검토하고 있다.

박 대장은 히말라야 8,000ｍ급 14좌 가운데 하나인 안나푸르나의 남벽에 새로운 길을 개척하기 위해 등반을 시작했다.

그는 남벽을 등반하는 과정에서 남의 도움을 받지 않고 지금까지 아무도 오르지 않은 길로 안나푸르나 정상에 오를 계획이었다.

남벽은 길이가 3,500ｍ에 달하고 해발 5,000ｍ 전진 베이스캠프에서 정상까지 눈이 쌓이지 않을 정도로 가파른 암벽이 2,000ｍ나 이어진다.