RAWALPINDI: Four Pakistan Army pilots were conferred with a prestigious French military award for their 2018 mission to rescue a French mountaineer stranded on a deadly peak in northern Pakistan.
A special award ceremony was held at Army Museum on Wednesday to confer medals to the Pakistan Army Aviation pilots who rescued a French mountaineer from Nanga Parbat in 2018.
According to the Inter Services Public Relations, Chief of General Staff (CGS) Lieutenant General Sahir Shamshad Mirza, senior military officers, and other officers from Pakistan Army Aviation attended the ceremony.
Commander of French Joint Force in Indian Ocean, Rear Admiral Didier Malterre, conferred the France National Defence Bronze Medal to brave pilots of Army Aviation who took part in the daring rescue operation.
In January 2018, a French Mountaineer, Miss Elisabeth Revol was stuck at Nanga Parbat. Pakistan Army Aviation pilots rescued the mountaineer on request of French Embassy.
The National Defence Medal, or Medaille de la Defense nationale, was created by Charles Hernu, French Minister for Defence and established by decree on April 21, 1982. It rewards particularly honourable service rendered by military personnel for their participation in operational activities.
The pilots had flown four Polish climbers, who were at an expedition at the base camp of K2, in an army helicopter to Nanga Parbat to rescue Elisabeth Revol and her fellow Polish climber Tomasz Mackiewicz in a dramatic rescue mission, winning accolades from both Paris and Warsaw.
Nanga Parbat, the world’s ninth-highest mountain, has is called the “Killer Mountain” after more than thirty climbers have died trying to scale it before the first successful summit in 1953.
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