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Fact Check
Viral video allegedly shows a helicopter retrieving the body of Nirmal Purja from Broad peak in Pakistan.
No, the viral video is old and not related to Nirmal Purja. The video has been shared on the internet since 2023.
Claim
Viral video allegedly shows a helicopter retrieving the body of Nirmal Purja from Broad peak in Pakistan.
Fact
No, the viral video is old and not related to Nirmal Purja. The video has been shared on the internet since 2023.
Even as the tragic death of renowned mountaineer Nirmal Purja and nine other climbers in an avalanche on Pakistan’s Broad Peak has left the global climbing community in shock and mourning, a video allegedly showing the body of Nirmal Purja, also known as Nimsdai, being lifted from Broad Peak in Pakistan is going viral on TikTok.
British-Nepali mountaineer Nirmal Purja, 43, who made a record by summiting all 14 peaks above 8,000-metre in six months died in an avalanche on Pakistan’s Broad Peak. His body was recovered from about 57,000m altitude on the mountain on August 2.
He was leading a 10-member international climbing team on Broad Peak in Pakistan when a tragic avalanche struck on July 30, 2026. The team consisted of climbers and guides from multiple nations, including Nepal, Pakistan, the United States, Oman, China, and Germany.
Against this backdrop, TikTok user @dhirenbhandari5 posted a video showing a body being suspended from a rope tied to a helicopter in a mountainous region. Text superimposed on the video reads, “This is how Nimsdai’s body was retrieved.”
The video posted on August 2 has garnered 1055 likes, 96 users have shared it and 56 people have commented until the last count.
Newschecker investigation found the claims to be misleading.
To check the veracity of the first video, Newschecker took a key-frame from the viral video and ran a reverse search on it. The search threw up several videos resembling the viral video.
The results led us to a fact-check article, dated May 27, 2024, published by The Eastleigh Voice, debunking the claim that the video showed the body of Kenyan Climber Cheruiyot Kirui being retrieved on Mount Everest.
We also found that the same video was uploaded on an Instagram page named helioncall on March 3, 2023. The Instagram post descriptions indicate that the video shows a human sling operation, a special technique involving a specialised device to carry individuals or rescue personnel to or from the aircraft. “The operation is crucial for search and rescue missions, and medical evacuations, for safety and stability of the person being lifted,” read the post. Heli on Call is a renowned helicopter tour and charter agency based in Nepal.
Further, we found another video, dated January 2, 2023 posted on the YouTube channel named TukuTukuTrek, a Nepali trekking company. However, we could not find the original source of the video.
Thus, our findings clearly show that the viral video doesn’t show the lifting of mountaineer Nirmal Purja’s body from Broad Peak in Pakistan. The video has been shared on the internet since 2023.
No, the viral video doesn’t show the retrieving of Nirmal Purja’s body from Broad Peak in Pakistan. The video that had gone viral in May 2024 as the body of Kenyan climber Cheruiyot Kirui has been shared as the body of Nirmal Purja. The viral video was first posted on the internet in January 2023. Thus, the claim is misleading.
Sources
The East Leigh, May 27, 2024
Helioncall /Instagram, March 3, 2023,
TukuTukuTrek/YouTube, January 2, 2023
Misleading
Sanjeeb Phuyal
July 31, 2026
Sanjeeb Phuyal
July 28, 2026
Sanjeeb Phuyal
July 24, 2026
