Body of Bulgarian Climber Atanas Skatov Recovered under K2

The fall of Atanas Skatov under K2 (8,611 meters) ended fatally. Pakistani journalist Jamil Nagri first spread this news on his Twitter account, and then it appeared elsewhere, as it became clear that his dead body had been found.

The Bulgarian climber disappeared on his way down from Camp 3 to base camp, and a military helicopter joined in the search due to the specifics of the terrain.

"The participant in a K2 winter expedition, Mr. Atanas Georgiev Skatov from Bulgaria, who fell while climbing down from Camp 3, was declared dead," Nagri wrote.

Skatov's body was found by sherpas and transported to Skardu, as his fiancee accompanying him on the expedition who was waiting for him at base camp is also heading there.

The 42-year-old Bulgarian made an unsuccessful attempt to conquer the world's second highest peak. For him, this was expedition No21 in the last eight years in a total of fourteenth attempts to conquer the eight-thousander. The great dream of the Sliven-born mountaineer was to climb all eight-thousanders, as only K2, Shisha Pangma, Broad Peak and Nanga Parbat remained on his list of unconquered peaks.

Skatov had already climbed the Seven Summits - the highest mountain peaks of all continents, and now he remained at the foot of one of his goals, the second highest peak in the world.

This is the third tragic incident with a Bulgarian mountaineer in recent years. In May 2018 Boyan Petrov disappeared while climbing Shisha Pangma, and a year later Ivan Tomov died on Lhotse.

Skatov was to turn 43 in just over a month. He has a 12-year-old son, Vassil.