MANSEHRA: The body of an Irish mountaineer, who went missing while descending from over 13,500-foot-high Musa Da Mussala peak in Siran Valley amid rough weather, was recovered on Wednesday from the dense forests.

"Forest officials and indigenous community members located the body at a gorge in the dense forest and it apparently seemed that the foreign mountaineer, who had separated from his British friend some four days ago while descending from Musa Da Mussala peak, slipped amid dense fog and rainy weather," said Nasir Mehmood Satti, the deputy inspector general of police, who led the search operation.

The search team, comprising police, Forest Department and Rescue 1122 officials and members of the indigenous community, recovered the body and shifted it to Mandachucha, where the police had established a base camp during the four-day operation. Satti said that the family of the deceased foreign mountaineer has reached the federal capital and his department would extend them full support and cooperation in completing the legal formalities.

An official of the police department who took part in the operation said that the body of Alexander, who worked with an international nongovernmental organisation in Islamabad, took four hours to reach the base camp and was then transported to a health facility for medico-legal formalities.