Report regarding finding human remains on Diamer glacier

Report of Samander Khan regarding finding human remains on Diamer glacier in July 2005

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A lot of strange stories are told about the finding of human remains on the Diamer glacier in July 2005.

The public interest is focused on the questions:

"Are the findings remains of missed Guenther Messner ?"
"How reached the remains just-in-time to the Diamer glacier ?"

We are shy to comment on this, altough we know the full story and many more details than the public media - because we were the acting persons! The finders! Here is our report:

Click on the pictures to enlarge them

Report

of SAMANDER KHAN regarding finding a leather shoe, pieces of blue textile and bones
on Diamer Glacier in July 2005

Details verified in September 2005 by ALBRECHT KRAFT in interviews with involved persons:
ABDUL MAHTEEN, NADERJAN, HAJI ABDUL MANAN, FAZAL HAQ

"In July 2005 i was working as an guide of an spanish expedition to Nanga Parbat. At that time my brothers ABDUL MAHTEEN and NADERJAN, also my cousins HAJI ABDUL MANAN and FAZAL HAQ were working with expeditions in the Diamer basecamp.
One afternoon in early July my brothers Mahteen and Naderjan and my cousins Manan and Fazal were walking on the Diamer glacier, just to use the of-duty-time searching for the dead body of an pakistan climber, which reamains were seen one year before but not saved.

After finding remains of an dead person with new yellow plastic-climbingshoes, my brother Mahteen and the others were walking ahead, as Mahteen found an leather shoe, some pieces of blue textile and some bones around. Because the type of shoe was never seen by him before with nowadays expeditioners, he spontaneous thought, that this shoe must belong to Guenther Messner, who disappeared on Nanga Parbat more than 30 years before.
Mahteen called the others to take a look at the shoe, and told them, what he thought. They discussed wether the shoe was from Guenter Messner, the group didnt come to a conclusion. So they build a stone-circle on the finding spot and took the shoe and stored it under an bush at the glacier moraine. Mahteen then informed me, Samander Khan, his elder brother, to take a look on the shoe. I, Samander, went the next day to the place and by looking at the old shoe i also thought like Mahteen that this shoe could belong to Guenter Messner. By breaking one bone i realized that this was older material. In my camera i had only one last free picture, so i asked Mahteen to make a picture of me and the shoe at the exact location of finding.
I picked up all the items, stored the shoe, hairs, some bones and pieces of blue textile in an plastic bag which i then kept on a hidden, save place on the Diamer glacier.
The items were not show to other persons than the mentioned, but the story of finding this items were told to expeditioneers in basecamp.
When returning to Islamabad with the spanish expedition, i told to my cousin Liver Khan and by telephone to my german friend Albrecht Kraft about the findings. Together we decided to inform Reinhold Messner about that, so that he could check the items during his appointed and awaited visist with a trekker group in August. An email to Reinhold Messner was sent on July 29, 2005.
When Reinhold Messner arrived with the trekker group at Diamer basecamp, i was asked to bring the shoe. So i went together with my cousin BADAR to the hidden place on Diamer glacier, picked up the bag with inside the shoe, hairs, some pieces of textile, some bones and brought and gave it to Reinhold Messner who was standing away accompanied by a medic from his group and also Liver Khan.
Neither i nor my brother Mahteen have ever spoken about the items were falling down from 7000 meters."

Islamabad, September 17, 2005 Signature Samander Khan

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