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Canadian climber leading expedition up Pakistan's treacherous K2 mountain falls to his death

Serge Dessureault was leading a nine-member international expedition up the mountain, which is extremely steep and attracts notoriously bad weather
The Canadian Press

Updated: July 7, 2018


Serge Dessureault died early Saturday while attempting to scale the 8,611-meter mountain in northern Pakistan. Serge


ISLAMABAD — The Canadian leader of an international mountaineering expedition has fallen to his death on the country’s K2 mountain, often considered the world’s most difficult to climb, according to a Pakistan official.

Serge Dessureault died early Saturday while attempting to scale the 8,611-meter mountain in northern Pakistan, according to Karrar Haidri, secretary of Alpine Club of Pakistan.

Haidri said it wasn’t immediately clear how Dessureault fell.


This undated file handout picture shows the world second highest peak K2 standing at the Himalayan Karakoram Range in the northern area of Pakistan. AFP/Getty Images

Dessureault, 53, had been a captain with Montreal’s fire department, according to a spokesman for the city’s firefighters’ association.

He was leading the nine-member “K2-Broad Peak” expedition up the mountain, which is extremely steep and attracts notoriously bad weather.

Haidri said Dessureault’s body was brought to the mountain’s advance base camp and would be transported to Islamabad.

A Facebook page following the climb of Dessureault and two other climbers said Dessureault “took a fall near camp 2 at 6,700 metres” early Saturday.

“It is with an indescribable sadness that we announce Serge’s death this morning,” read the message on the page Serge Dessureault, Maurice Beausejour et Nathalie Fortin au K2.

The post said Dessureault’s body had been recoved and his family and friends had been informed.

Last week, Austrian climber Christian Huber was killed at Ultar Sar Peak when his tent was hit by an avalanche.

With files by The Associated Press.

https://ottawacitizen.com/news/canada/canadian-climber-dies-in-fall-on-pakistans-treacherous-k2/wcm/9cb61d9e-266c-4226-9c34-2763d43ed1d9

RIP...This is second accident after death of Austrian climber.

   

   

It's sad day for climbers and obviously for families.

Yet this mountain will continue to seduce mountaineers...Have you looked at shadow of this mountain, K2 ? Here it is.....Scary, isn't it?



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Great game of Cricket occurred today b/w Pakistan and Australia, the Final match

'Big match' Fakhar the hero as Pakistan veer from dire to delightful


Fakhar Zaman drags a pull past the bowler AFP

"Muscled" is a term that might be applied quite liberally to Australia's approach to T20 batting. They huff and puff and heave and swing at the ball as if they mean to rip the leather clean off it. Slightly built and a shade under six feet tall, Fakhar Zaman doesn't have the hardware to follow the same method. Pakistan's free-wheeling opener's game instead marries hand and eye and has made him the leading run-scorer in T20I cricket this year, with 516 runs in 13 innings capped by a career-best 91 when it really mattered against Australia in the tri-series final.

"I think nowadays he's in the best form of his life," reckoned Pakistan captain Sarfraz Ahmed. "The way he's batted throughout the series has been good for us and good for his career. If he keeps playing like this, he's only going up and up."

It's not just how Fakhar's been scoring his runs, but also when. His century in the Champions Trophy final last year is an obvious case in point for big match temperament, and his innings in the tri-series final will only enhance that reputation.

"Yes, he's definitely [a big-match player]," said Sarfraz. "He performs in big games, consistently. Like the Champions Trophy, in the final, he got that hundred. In New Zealand, he scored a fifty and then a 40-odd (in successive T20Is, to help Pakistan come from 1-0 down to win the three-match series). He's a big-game player and he's getting better day by day."

His innings against Australia was all the more remarkable considering the early strife Pakistan were in. Flummoxed by Glenn Maxwell in the first over, they were 2 for 2 needing almost 10 an over pretty much as soon as their innings began. That's a position most other teams would be unable to rise from, but an hour later Pakistan's fans at the ground (and a few hundred turned up to support them) were singing "Jeetega bhai jeetega, Pakistan jeetega" and "Pakistan Zindabad" as their team improbably, inexplicably romped home. Pakistan can drop Aaron Finch first ball, concede 10 an over for the first 10 overs and then surge back into the game with eight wickets in the next 10. They can be 2 for 2, and then complete a record run chase with five balls to spare. It's become an obvious cliche, but Pakistan remain an absorbingly mercurial team.

"We know they're an emotional team, and they're a highly skilled team," Australia captain Finch said. "When they're on, they're incredibly good. We let them back into the game with bat and ball today. We had a chance to get up around that 200 mark and almost put the game to bed after that start with the ball. To chase 10 or 11 an over for 18 or 19 overs is incredibly hard. So if we'd had a few more runs, if we'd squeezed a little more with the ball early on and made them take risks. They didn't have to take too many risks to get boundaries early on."

Fakhar's batting wasn't entirely risk free, but his aggressive strokes came in a calculated manner. In that regard, he's not entirely dissimilar to his current batting coach Grant Flower, who came close to mastering the delicate risk/reward balance with his own batting, particularly towards the end of his career. Flower and Fakhar have certainly spent enough time together in the nets. Flower has been Pakistan's batting coach for four years now, which is enough time for the famously committed former Zimbabwe batsman to have sent down tens of thousands of throwdowns.

"He works really hard with the boys," Sarfraz said of Flower. "He's worked very hard for the last four years. He's always in the nets." Whatever he's doing, it's working for Fakhar, who has also looked to learn from the old heads around him in the playing XI.

"In the start in T20 cricket I was hitting every ball in my striking zone, and after playing eight to 10 games I sat with some senior players like Shoaib Malik and Sarfraz Ahmed, and spoke about my gameplans with them," Fakhar had said after Pakistan's previous match. "I realised that I could play proper cricket shots and be successful, and that's what I've been doing recently."

Fakhar has certainly made an impression on the Australians. Finch called him "a thorn in our side" earlier this week, today adding: "We've all seen the form that Fakhar has been in. We saw with Shoaib Malik there, towards the end, if you have a batter who's in, they can control the game, they control the strike."

Capped by Fakhar's career-best 91 and Malik's masterclass, Pakistan had veered between ordinary to extraordinary all morning. Shadab Khan dropped a sitter at point and then pulled off a one-handed blinder at mid-off. Hasan Ali's massive, ballooning no-ball didn't even bounce before it landed in Sarfraz' gloves, leaving Pakistan's captain - finally - lost for words. Two balls later, Hasan shattered Ashton Agar's stumps, brilliance and farce bookending the over.

Whether it's letting the opposition sprint to 95 for 0, or slipping to 2 for 2 at the start of a record chase, Pakistan are the sort of team who get themselves into these situations. But they're also the sort of team that can get themselves out of them. "You can't take anything for granted against the number one team in the world," said Finch. "Or any international team." But especially if that team is Pakistan.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/story/_/id/24039444/big-match-fakhar-hero-pakistan-veer-dire-delightful

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A dejected Aaron Finch leads Australia off.

Fakhar Zaman powers Pakistan to victory in T20 tri-series final against Australia

FOX SPORTS
July 8, 2018 5:23pm

TWENTY20 TRI-SERIES FINAL, Australia v Pakistan — AT one point with the bat, Australia was 0-95.

At another point Pakistan was 2-2.

By the end of the match, Pakistan had cruised home with six wickets and four balls to spare, taking out the tri-series final and reaffirming its status as the world’s best T20I team off the back of a brilliant performace from Fakhar Zaman.

Set a target of 184 to win, Pakistan lost two wickets in the first over as Glenn Maxwell made the most of rare chance to use the new ball.

The spinner had Sahibzada Farhan stumped for 0 off a wide, with the 22-year-old debutant achieving the rare feat of falling with without facing a legitimate delivery. Maxwell then had Hussain Talat (0) caught at backward point, as Pakistan finished the first of its 20 overs at 2-3.

Talat’s dismissal brought Sarfraz Ahmed out to the middle, and his arrival saw momentum swing back in Pakistan’s direction. Alongside Fakhar Zaman, the captain added 46 runs off 28 balls for Pakistan’s second wicket. It took a special bit of fielding from Jhye Richardson to account for Sarfraz, with the young quick conjuring a run-out from deep fine leg. The dismissal left Pakistan at 3-47 in the sixth over and victory looked an unlikely proposition.

Unfortunately for Australia, the series’ form batsman, Fakhar, was still there and alongside Shoaib Malik he turned the match on its head.

The pair put on a 107-run stand in 63 balls, with Fakhar scoring a blazing 91 off 46. It was an innings punctuated by three sixes and 12 fours.

The Pakistanis went into the final 10 overs needing another 105 runs, and took control from there. The door opened was opened for them by a 10-ball over from Jack Wildermuth that featured four wides and went for 16 runs. In the next they helped themselves to 17 runs — with one bye — off Ashton Agar’s first and only over. They took another 15 from the Andrew Tye over that followed.

In the space of three overs the match had completely changed complexion, with Pakistan reducing the chase to 57 off 42 balls.


Pakistan's Fakhar Zaman scored 91 off 46 balls.

By the time Fakhar perished at the end of 17th over, caught at deep point off the bowling of Richardson, Pakistan only required another 30 runs off four overs. There would be no further hiccups, with Malik (43 off 37) and Asif Ali (17 off 11) finishing off the chase with four balls to spare.

Australia’s innings with the bat followed a similar path as it did with the ball, with Aaron Finch’s men getting off to a brilliant start only to throw it away.

Alongside recalled opener D’Arcy Short (76 off 53), Finch put on 95 runs for Australia’s opening stand.

Finch was the first man out, falling in the 10th over when he was caught at cover off the bowling of Shadab Khan. The captain connected sweetly with the shot but played it straight to the fielder. It set a trend for Australia’s batsmen, with Short, Glenn Maxwell (5), Travis Head (19) and Marcus Stoinis (12) all falling in similar fashion.

Alex Carey on the other hand fell to arguably the catch of the series, with Shadab diving full length at mid-off to take a stunning grab with his right hand just centimetres off the ground, picking up a wicket for Faheem Ashraf.

Carey was one of five men to get out in the final four overs — alongside Carey, Head, Agar (7) and Tye (0) — in which Australia scored only 36 runs. It proved to be a crucial period in the match.

https://www.couriermail.com.au/sport/cricket/twenty20-triseries-final-australia-v-pakistan-at-harare-live-coverage/news-story/a8025b60e7e4adb504868db90c993c3b

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After Being Insulted For Her Cooking Skills, Woman Adds Snake Poison To Dal; Five Guests Killed

In a gruesome case, a 23-year-old woman was arrested after she allegedly killed five guests by poisoning their food because she was upset over her in-law’s continuous criticism of her complexion and cooking.

Pradnya Survase, who lived in Khalapur about 70 km from Mumbai, confessed of mixing a chemical - used to kill snakes - in dal that was served to some guest at 88-people gathering hosted by her relative Subash Mahe in Mahad.



“Pradnya claims that since her marriage two years ago, she has been insulted regularly for her dark complexion and accused of not being able to cook well,” said Vishwajeet Kaingade, senior inspector of Khalapur police station told HT.

“She has named her mother in-law, Sindhu Survase, husband Suresh Govind Survase, sisters in-law Ujwala Pawar and Jyoti Ashok Kadam, and her mother in-law’s sister Sarita Mane and Sarita’s husband, Subhash Mane for the alleged torture,” the officer said.

Vilash Thikrey, 13 who survived said he remembers the dal tasting “bitter”.

This was Survase’s second marriage as her first broke allegedly because of another relative, Ulka Shinde who would “cast aspersions on her character”, said police. She alleged Shinde was damaging her second

“She (Shinde) had been taunting her (Survase’s) mother-in-law for bringing Pradnya into the family. This too had led to problems in Pradnya’s married life,” said Kaingade.

On Monday, Mane had invited around 120 people for house warming ceremony in Mahad. Shinde and her family were among the guests. The Puja was followed by lunch cooked by village Maharaj, the cook.

Guests who ate in last few batches started complaining of nausea, vomiting and stomach ache a few hours later. About 88 people were hospitalised. Three children, including Shinde’s son Rishikesh, died.



On Thursday, 11-year-old Vijay Shinde, who is not related to Ulka Shinde and 53-year-old Gopinath Nakure died in separate hospitals.

“We learnt that those who had eaten between 4:30 pm and 6 pm were suffering from nausea and other issues. We then found out who had served the food then,” said Kaingade on Thursday.

Police questioned Mane’s relatives who has been serving food at the time. Survase was among them who later confessed to her crime after interrogation. The police said she had chosen the occasion of housewarming because she knew all those whom she wanted to kill would eat there.


“She took the powder to Mane’s house. Those she wanted to kill ate the food before she could mix the poison,” said Kaingade. “Around 4:30 pm, Sarita Mane, Jyoti Kadam and Ulka Shinde’s kids sat down to eat. Pradnya then decided to kill them and mixed the poison in the dal container,” he said.

https://www.indiatimes.com/news/india/after-being-insulted-for-her-cooking-skills-woman-adds-snake-poison-to-dal-five-guests-killed-348017.html

   

That was uncalled for.

   

Yup....Ridiculously extreme measure. She could have improved her cooking skills and might have won the hearts of her people. But she didn't bother to do that and went to kill people through painful way.

   

Guys....Tomorrow is voting day....We are going to elect our prime minister for 5 years. My vote is for Imran Khan


Pakistan's Imran Khan seeks election win over jailed ex-PM's party



ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Cricket star-turned-politician Imran Khan is hoping to become Pakistan’s prime minister after 20 years of being dismissed at the polls, as the country prepares to vote in a tense election pitting him against the party of jailed ex-premier Nawaz Sharif.

Just over a decade after the end of Pakistan’s most recent era of military rule, Wednesday’s vote features competing narratives of democracy amid Sharif’s accusations elements of the powerful army are working to throw the race to Khan, which he denies.

Khan, 65, has hailed Sharif’s conviction on corruption charges this month as proof democracy is maturing in the nuclear-armed Muslim-majority nation of 208 million by finally holding its venal political elite accountable.

Supporters of Sharif, whose party is now led by his younger brother, Shehbaz, argue his downfall was politically motivated and engineered by the army establishment, representing a blow to the “sanctity of the vote” that gave his Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) a majority in the last elections.

The election comes as Pakistan’s economy is in crisis, with the rupee’s 20 percent decline spiking inflation and dwindling foreign currency reserves likely to force the second International Monetary Fund bailout since 2013.

Recent nationwide polls indicate a tight race, with Khan’s party ahead on 30 percent in one survey, compared to 27 percent for PML-N. Sharif’s party tops another poll with 26 percent compared to 25 percent for Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI).

In third place was the Pakistan People’s Party of Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, 29, the son of two-time Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, who was assassinated in 2007. The PPP could emerge as a coalition kingmaker if no party wins a majority, as many expect.

“PRE-POLL RIGGING”

Khan, however, is wary of governing with the established parties.

“If we have to make a coalition with either of the two main parties, then it means we can’t bring about any major reforms,” said Khan, who as captain led Pakistan to victory in the 1992 Cricket World Cup.

“So, I wonder if it is worth even forming a government if you have to make an alliance with one of those two parties.”

PPP leaders recently have joined PML-N in decrying “pre-poll rigging” involving restricted campaigning, quashed media coverage and candidates intimidated by military officers to change allegiance to Khan.

The military, which has ruled Pakistan for nearly half of its 71-year history, denies any effort to influence the election.

The divisive campaign is likely to complicate any coalition negotiations after the vote, if they are necessary.

“I think you could have a complete collapse in terms of ability to form a government right after the election,” said Moeed Yusuf, a Pakistani analyst at the United States Institute of Peace, a Washington think tank.

To gain a majority, a party needs 137 of the 272 elected National Assembly seats. A further 70 seats for women and minorities are awarded proportionally based on the voting percentages.

In 2013, the PML-N won 126 seats, while Khan’s party came third with 28 seats. After the results, 27 winning independent candidates joined Sharif’s party to give it a majority.


SYMPATHY VOTE

Khan has banked on gains in the PML-N stronghold of Punjab, Pakistan’s most-populous province that has 141 elected seats, for his path to victory, successfully courting many so-called “electables” - entrenched local power brokers who often hold sway over about a quarter of Punjab’s seats.

Two new hard-right Islamist parties also may cut into the PML-N’s conservative voter base.

However, the PML-N could reap a sympathy vote after Nawaz Sharif returned to be arrested on July 13 along with his daughter Maryam, leaving his cancer-stricken wife in a London hospital. They deny wrongdoing.

Sharif released an audio recording from jail on Monday, urging supporters to send his party back to government for a second term.

“Even in this prison ... I can hear the chants of ‘give respect to vote’ from all directions,” Sharif said.

Mushahid Hussain Sayed, a PML-N senator, said the party had delivered on promises to reduce electricity shortages and improve infrastructure.

Those who voted for Sharif may also be annoyed that the three-times elected prime minister has been never been allowed to complete a term.

“It’s two planks,” Sayed said of the PML-N’s appeal to voters. “Democracy and development.”

Sharif, 68, was removed by presidential decree in 1993, in a military coup in 1999, and last year by the Supreme Court, which ordered his corruption trial.

The PML-N has taken hope in another opinion poll focusing on Punjab only - Sharif’s party had a lead of 51 percent to PTI’s 30 percent, according to the IPOR Consulting survey conducted from April 15 to June 2.

Respondents listed top two election issues as access to clean water and gas for cooking, each at 17 percent. Inflation and corruption were ranked last, at 1 percent each.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-pakistan-election/pakistans-imran-khan-seeks-election-win-over-jailed-ex-pms-party-idUSKBN1KE089

   

   

K2 is a brutal mountain. 1 in 4 usually die.

   

I voted IK (Imran Khan) today

2-3 hours left in end of polling

People are hell excited here.

Cricketer turned politician, haha, he will be interesting man....Graduated from Oxford, he can talk in English very well. He, if wins, will break the two dynasties which have been stuck with Pakistan...People want new man.

Under his leadership, we won Cricket world cup of 1992



Women are crazy for him....He was once used to be a playboy...Married with British royal heiress Jamima, got broken, then married with Reham, got broken again....Now he is married with one who is spiritual healer, Bushra

Pic with all wives

With Jemima



With Reham




With Bushra




Although he did one stupidity today...He casted his vote in front of everyone. hahahah

Overall, he is nice guy....,He is Pashtun, one of the ethnicities in Pakistan. He is fiercely independent and like freedom/prosperity for his country. Some people say he has mongoloid features on his face...I just watch him with curiosity like others, pinning our hopes on him after God.



Going off topic, but this may help you get some insight about the mindset/psyche of him/his community. One Scottish Historian describe Pashtuns in a way...

Summing up the character of Pashtuns, the 19th Century statesman and historian Mountstuart Elphinstone of Scotland wrote,

“They are fond of liberty, faithful to their friends, kind to their dependents, hospitable, brave, hardy, frugal, laborious and prudent.”

http://presspartners.org/what-everyone-should-know-about-pashtuns/

I believe If IK not wins today, many young beautiful hearts will be broken...

Girl Zoya Ali Proposed Imran khan in a Live Dharna (Sit in)

Watch from start till 0:54 Shaadi = Marriage and Mohabbat = love

   

Yeah...Yet Mountaineers continue to come. Brave of them.

   

Its the challenge. Kinda like when I order a party platter at my local pub.

   

May the best Trump-Trudeau want-to-be-puppet win!

   

----------------------------------------



Yeah. He won....We are now about to see Mighty Khan becoming our PM.....A potential challenger to Mr. Trudeau, the cool Canadian. No offense



Key Points from Imran Khan's Victory Speech.

1. To make Pakistan an Islamic Welfare state, as per Medina.

2. To make policies to help poor and marginalized communities.

3. Will work towards enrolling 25 million out of school children.

4. To provide clean drinking water.

5. I have forgotten all personal attacks on me, even if you didn’t vote for me.

6. I will not engage in political victimization. I will make rule of law and take action across the board.

7. Accountability will start from me and my Ministers.

8. Will fix governance system and have a big economic challenge ahead.

9. Will reduce cost and difficulty in doing business.

10. Will ask overseas Pakistanis to invest in Pakistan.

11. Promises simplicity and austerity. Says will protect tax money.

12. I won’t live in PM house we will make it an educational institution. We will use the Governor houses for public.

13. Will use hill side resorts for public.

14. Change will start from me and my team.

15. Will create new jobs.

16. We have a bug foreign policy challenge, economic and security challenge. Pakistan needs stability.

17. We will improve relations with China.

18. We will learn poverty alleviation from China.

19. Afghanistan has lost most in War on Terror followed by Pakistan. Both countries need peace.

20. We want to end the fight rather than extend it.

21. I was portrayed like a Bollywood villan in India. But, I understand we need good relations with India, we need trade relations.

22. We need to address human rights issues of Kashmir and the Kashmir issue.

23. I will prove to you we can improve governance here.

24. I pledge that we won’t have protocols.

25. Pakistan’s policies will be made for poor people. Will give rights to people who work in homes.

26. On rigging: this election comission was made by PMLN and PPP. Any party wherever they say has been rigging, we will fully investigate it and any constituency that you want us to open we will open.

27. He thanked everyone.

   

For your sake, I hope he is able to accomplish even half of those things!

Sounds like a pretty nice guy. But then again, they usually do this early in the game. Can you tell I'm a bit jaded?

   

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