Families on three climbers missing in Pakistan

Families of the three mountaineers who went missing in Pakistan last week while attempting to scale K2, the world’s second-highest mountain, were growing more desperate on Tuesday, a day after bad weather halted the search for the climbers.

Hopes for the survival of the three - Pakistani climber Ali Sadpara, Jon Snorri of Iceland and Juan Pablo Mohr of Chile - were waning as heavy clouds continued to obscure K2.

"I think if the search operation continues, (it) should be to search for their bodies," said Sajid, Sadpara's son,

Sajid had begun the climb the world’s second-highest mountain with his father but was forced to abandon the summit attempt after his equipment failed.

He waited 20 hours at a lower camp before making the descent last week.

Since the search started, he has been on the helicopter flights, searching for his father.

He said his hope was that his father and the other climbers had succeeded in reaching the summit.

The three climbers lost contact with base camp late on Friday and were reported missing on Saturday, after their support team stopped receiving communications from them during their ascent of the 8,611-meter (28,250-foot) high K2 - sometimes referred to as “killer mountain.”

Located in the Karakorum mountain range, K2 is one of the most dangerous climbs - one never accomplished in winter until last month, when a team of 10 Nepalese climbers made history by scaling K2 for the first time in winter.

In winter, winds on K2 can blow at more than 200 kilometers per hour (125 miles per hour) and temperatures can drop to minus 60 degrees Celsius (minus 76 Fahrenheit).

In one of the deadliest mountaineering accidents ever, 11 climbers died in a single day trying to scale K2 in 2008.