Former biathlete struck by rockfall at altitude of 5,700m
Tributes paid to athlete ‘with heart, attitude and vision’
The German double Olympic biathlon champion Laura Dahlmeier has died after a mountaineering accident in Pakistan, her management confirmed on Wednesday.
The accident occurred at around noon on Monday, at an altitude of approximately 5,700 metres at Laila Peak, the Alpine Club of Pakistan said on Tuesday. Dahlmeier was climbing with her mountaineering partner when she was struck by a sudden rockfall in the Hushe Valley, part of the northern Gilgit-Baltistan region.
“Laura Dahlmeier died on 28 July in a mountain accident on Laila Peak (6,069 metres) in Pakistan’s Karakoram range,” her representatives told Germany’s Die Welt newspaper. “A recovery operation was launched but ultimately called off on the evening of 29 July.”
