Rescuers on Sunday recovered the body of celebrated Nepali mountaineer Nirmal Purja, widely known as Nimsdai, from Pakistan's Broad Peak and brought it down to Camp I alongside three other bodies, as teams continued the hazardous operation to retrieve climbers killed in last week's devastating avalanche.

The ground rescue team reached Purja's body at an altitude of around 5,700 metres on the 8,047-metre peak, where three additional bodies were also recovered and transported to Camp I, according to the Alpine Club of Pakistan (ACP).

The three bodies recovered alongside Purja were identified as Chinese climber Wang Zhong and Nepali guides Nima Sherpa and Kili Pemba Sherpa.

"The ground rescue team has reached Nirmal Purja at approximately 5,700 metres on Broad Peak, where three additional bodies have also been brought down to Camp I," ACP president Irfan Arshad Khan told Everest Chronicle.

"One more body is visible at a distance but in a very difficult area," he said.

The recovery operation began before dawn, with a 10-member Pakistani and Nepali rescue team leaving at around 4:00 am local time and reaching Broad Peak Camp I by about 9:00 am before moving higher onto the avalanche debris.

Drone reconnaissance has revealed several more bodies scattered across steep terrain, with some lying on exposed slopes and cliff edges that rescuers described as extremely dangerous to access.

Nepali rescuers have repeatedly urged authorities to deploy long-line helicopter evacuation, arguing that recovering bodies from such terrain on foot unnecessarily endangers rescue personnel.

"We have been asking for long-line rescue," Mingma David Sherpa, who is coordinating the Nepali rescue effort from Skardu, told Everest Chronicle.

"It would be safe and fast. We should not put the lives of other climbers at risk in pulling out those bodies from difficult places," he said.

The recovery mission is being led by veteran climbers Mingma Gyalje Sherpa, known as Mingma G, Dawa Sherpa, also known as "Speed", and Pakistani mountaineer Sirbaz Khan.

Purja, 43, a former British soldier and one of the world's most accomplished high-altitude climbers, gained global fame after climbing all 14 of the world's 8,000-metre peaks in just over six months in 2019, smashing the previous record and earning multiple Guinness World Records.

He also led the historic first winter ascent of K2 in 2021 by an all-Nepali team, a landmark achievement widely regarded as one of the greatest accomplishments in modern mountaineering.

On Saturday, rescuers recovered the body of Nepali climbing guide Gyalu Sherpa, the ACP said.

Gyalu, from eastern Nepal's Sankhuwasabha district, held a Guinness World Record for climbing Kanchenjunga, the world's third-highest mountain, three times in a single season after summiting on May 10, 19 and 25 in 2025.

The search operation entered its third day on Sunday after Thursday's avalanche swept through Broad Peak, one of the world's 14 mountains above 8,000 metres.

Earlier recovery efforts found the bodies of Nepali guide Pur Bahadur Gurung, known as "Yukta", and Omani climber Nadhira Ahmed Abdullah Al Harthy.  IFMGA certified guide Yukta was a rising climbing star of new generation, while Nadhira was first Omani woman to summit Everest.

Rescuers also recovered a severed leg believed to belong to American climber Mallory Geis. Al Harthy's body has been flown to Islamabad, while the others remain in Skardu awaiting further arrangements.

Purja's expedition company, Elite Exped, announced his death on Saturday, saying there was no hope of finding any survivors from the avalanche and that the other missing climbers had also perished. The Alpine Club of Pakistan stopped short of officially confirming the deaths at the time, saying rescuers had not yet physically reached the bodies

Those killed in the Broad Peak avalanche:

Nadhira Ahmed Abdullah Al Harthy (Oman)

Sohail Sakhi (Pakistan)

Wang Zhong (China)

Mallory Geis (United States)

Nirmal "Nims" Purja (Nepal)

Pur Bahadur Gurung "Yukta" (Nepal)

Kili Pemba Sherpa "Kilu" (Nepal)

Nima Sherpa (Nepal)

Nawang Thindu Sherpa (Nepal)

Gyalu Sherpa (Nepal)