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- [00:02]
Natalia Melman Petruzella
BBC Sounds music radio podcasts at around 7pm On August 1, 2008, Dutch climber and professional adventurer Wilko van Royan steps onto the summit of K2 Martel Top.
- [00:21]
Wilko van Royen
Von de Katwe. Yeah, I am to feel that you're between heaven and earth. This is it, what we were fighting for and dreaming for. And now it's done.
- [00:33]
Natalia Melman Petruzella
This is his third attempt and now he's finally standing here shoulder to shoulder with his teammates. The whole world is at their feet.
- [00:41]
Wilko van Royen
What you see makes you so humble. You see the bending of the earth. There just are a few people you know who have ever been on this place. For us it was really magical. Tears are running down your cheeks and you're hugging each other.
- [00:59]
Natalia Melman Petruzella
They're among the last of the 18 climbers to summit that day. After celebrating together, Wilco's gotten separated from his team on descent. But he isn't too worried. In fact, he's feeling optimistic.
- [01:14]
Wilko van Royen
Everybody is going down on his own pace and I know from experience, you know, we will find Camp 4 and we will have party in the base camp.
- [01:24]
Natalia Melman Petruzella
At about 8.30pm, the sun has fully set. K2 is shrouded in darkness. Wilco is climbing through a vast snow field. Heavy boots crunching through knee high snow as he makes his way down. After a while he comes to an area near the huge serac that looms over the sections known as the Traverse and the Bottleneck. It's where the climbers got stuck in that huge traffic jam after spending hours placing all those vital fixed ropes. It's these ropes that Wilko is looking for.
- [01:54]
Wilko van Royen
Suddenly you know, there were no ropes. And then of course you think, hey listen, this is strange. What's going on? Am I on the wrong spot or whatever.
- [02:03]
Natalia Melman Petruzella
Eventually he comes across two other climbers, both as freezing cold and confused as he is.
- [02:09]
Wilko van Royen
I saw Gerard and Marco.
- [02:11]
Natalia Melman Petruzella
Marco Confortola, a climber from Italy, was the last person to summit that day. Wilco doesn't know him super well, but he knows the man sitting next to Marco. It's his teammate and good friend, Irish climber Jerry McDonnell, or as some people know him, Jesus.
- [02:26]
Wilko van Royen
He was looking like Jesus a little bit with this beard, you know, and always a smile on his face.
- [02:32]
Natalia Melman Petruzella
Wilco knows he can rely on Jesus. Sorry, Jer. Whatever happens, they've known each other for a couple of years now. Jer was one of the people Wilco climbed with on his previous K2 attempt.
- [02:42]
Wilko van Royen
When the shit hits the fan, he was there.
- [02:46]
Natalia Melman Petruzella
But right now, Jer doesn't have any answers. Neither Does Marco?
- [02:50]
Wilko van Royen
They found the same conclusions. We can't find the ropes.
- [02:57]
Natalia Melman Petruzella
They continue to search for the ropes well into the night. At about 1:30 in the morning, Wilco calls it.
- [03:03]
Wilko van Royen
I said to them, listen, we have to stop because we're taking too much risk. Tomorrow the sun will be rising.
- [03:11]
Natalia Melman Petruzella
Their best option is an overnight bivouac. A bivouac is a French word that originated back in the 18th century. It basically means camping out in the open with no shelter.
- [03:23]
Wilko van Royen
Normally you dig a hole, you know, so the wind is going over you or whatever. But we were too exhausted. The only thing we were doing is just sitting on your butt in the snow, waiting till the sun is rising.
- [03:35]
Natalia Melman Petruzella
The three men huddle together in their thick down suits. Marco in yellow, Jer in red, Wilco in orange. Like a minuscule flame flickering against the vast, icy white canvas of K2. They're all way above 26,000 meters, aka the Death Zone. One hard part is staying awake. If you fall asleep, you risk sliding off into the abyss. It's also more difficult to manage your internal temperature, so you risk getting too cold. At night, K2's temperatures can drop as low as -40. The three men need to keep themselves awake and as warm as possible, so they stay close.
- [04:16]
Wilko van Royen
And then we made the best of it. Gerard, he was a musician, you know, he could sing Gaelic, you know, these Irish songs.
- [04:25]
Natalia Melman Petruzella
Wilco recognizes the songs. Gerard spent a lot of nights serenading the climbers. When they were back down in base.
- [04:31]
Wilko van Royen
Camp in the evening, you know, with the Pakistanis, he started to sing these lyrics. Even if they can't understand it, you feel the energy. Oh, this is a romantic song, you know, about the man and a woman losing his love or whatever. And they were dancing.
- [04:52]
Natalia Melman Petruzella
There is no dancing now. They need to preserve all the energy they can. The longer they remain here in this low oxygen, high altitude environment, the more likely they are to fall victim to dehydration, delirium, hypothermia, frostbite and even death. All they can do is wait it out until the sun rises a few hours from now. Then they can get back to their descent.
- [05:15]
Wilko van Royen
Hopefully we find these ropes. That's logical. The ropes must be somewhere.
- [05:21]
Natalia Melman Petruzella
But something they don't know is that even if they can survive the night out in the death zone, the ropes they're looking for, they're gone. They were taken out by the falling ice that killed Norwegian climber Rolf Baja just hours earlier when the Sirac collapsed. Wilko and the other climbers still out there above The Serac are trapped.
- [05:42]
Wilko van Royen
The only question is, can you keep holding on?
- [05:50]
Natalia Melman Petruzella
I'm Natalia Melman petruzella from the BBC. This is Extreme Peak Danger episode 6 Descent into Madness While Wilco and his companions decide to sit it out till sunrise, a lot of the other climbers who who also celebrated on the top of K2 just hours earlier, have been struggling. As the Korean team makes their way down from the summit, two of their Sherpa guides, Pasang Lama and his cousin Jumik, set up a bunch of makeshift ropes to help their clients descend. Pasang uses his ice axe to anchor the ropes in place.
- [06:41]
Pasang Lama
Everybody was on that rope system. Too much people inside that rope. It's quite disturbing and system almost collapsed.
- [06:51]
Natalia Melman Petruzella
Shaken by this, Pasang wanders off. He's becoming increasingly anxious about descending as quickly as possible. He's separated from his clients on the Korean team and from his cousin Jumik.
- [07:03]
Pasang Lama
I did not think I have a client. Only thing in my mind is how to get down.
- [07:09]
Natalia Melman Petruzella
Pasang continues alone, his ax plunged into the ice and snow of the mountain for any remaining climbers still behind him to use way back down at Camp 4 are Frederick Strang and Dr. Eric Meyer of the American team. They'd both turned back before reaching the summit because they thought the serac looked too dangerous. They're starting to discover just how right they were.
- [07:34]
Eric Meyer
The Norwegians issued a distress call after the collapse of the serac. Things were extremely dire.
- [07:42]
Natalia Melman Petruzella
Still, a lot of people is missing up the mountain. We're tired, exhausted, difficult for anyone of us to do anything without risking our own lives. There's not much we can do. They actually are doing a lot to help their fellow climbers get down. They've set up a beaming strobe light to help guide people back to Camp 4, one of them being their teammate Shiring Dorje Sherpa from Nepal. He's still out there.
- [08:12]
Eric Meyer
We weren't going anywhere until he was back down in our camp.
- [08:17]
Natalia Melman Petruzella
They're getting things ready for his return.
- [08:19]
Eric Meyer
Lots of liquids, food and emergency medical apparatus.
- [08:24]
Natalia Melman Petruzella
But even as Eric and Frederick busy themselves with gathering these supplies, they can't escape their mounting dread.
- [08:30]
Eric Meyer
I can tell you as a climber, there's just nothing more unsettling than not knowing where the rest of your team is at.
- [08:38]
Natalia Melman Petruzella
They are all up there by themselves. They're not moving anywhere. They're just sitting still, waiting to get help.
- [08:47]
Eric Meyer
This is not a guided tour. This mountain is notorious for this, for the same scenario. Unfortunately.
- [09:05]
Natalia Melman Petruzella
When disaster like this strikes, you kind of have to wonder if it's pure bad luck or if there's some higher power at work. According to an old Buddhist legend, over a thousand years ago, a bounty hunter stalked the Himalayas. This wasn't just any bounty hunter, but a sacred one. His name was Guru Rinpoche, the founder of Tibetan Buddhism. And he was on a mission to spread his message far and wide. One day, Guru Rinpoche comes across a mighty goddess named Tashi Siringma. She has four sisters, and they're all part of an ancient Tibetan sect. They're also hungry for human flesh. It's said Tashi Syringma sends her snow leopard out to find Guru Rinpoche. But when the leopard returns purring about Buddhism, Tashi Syringma knows that she's been bested. She renounces her flesh eating ways and according to some legends, ascends a mountain called Garishankar in Nepal's rural Walling Valley. Tashi Syringma becomes the Buddhist goddess of longevity, giving long life. It's said that the glaciers that run off of Garishankur and flow into the Rolwaling river have allowed some local elders to live till over 100 years old. One by one, Tashi Syringma's sisters fall to Guru Rinpoche's powerful persuasion, and each takes her place on top of a different mountain. But one sister remained unbound. She's known as Takar Dolsagma. Takar Dolsangma mounts a turquoise dragon and flees north to the Karakoram mountain range. But she can't outrun Guru Rinpoche. He corners her on a glacier. Finally, Thakar Do Sagma submits. She mounts her dragon once more to take her place as Goddess of security on K2, where legend says she still lives today. I imagine Taka Dolsangma, the great and terrible goddess, looking down on the scattered and stranded climbers on the slopes of her mountain, wondering if she'll get the chance to feast once. Shiring Dorje Sherpa, the teammate of Frederick and Eric who are waiting back at Camp 4, has been praying to the Goddess of Security for luck and protection since arriving.
- [11:43]
Shiring Dorje Sherpa
Pray every day. Every day. God, please, I want to go climbing this mountain. You pray and then you get the luck.
- [11:51]
Natalia Melman Petruzella
Just a few hours ago, Shirring achieved a spiritual dream and cemented his place in history as one of the first Sherpas to reach the top of K2 without extra oxygen. Now, as he makes his way back down in the dark, his thoughts turn to getting home to his family, his wife hadn't wanted him to come. She'd cried the morning he left.
- [12:11]
Shiring Dorje Sherpa
Keto is very dangerous. I think maybe my wife's right.
- [12:16]
Natalia Melman Petruzella
But there's no going back now. The only choice is to keep descending. Alone in the freezing dark night, he prays that he'll make it out alive. Further down the mountain is another Sherpa Pasang Lama, one of the guides for the Korean team. He's struggling to keep his balance in the vast icy darkness. His spiked crampons keep sliding against the ground.
- [12:40]
Pasang Lama
My crampon was not catching well. It was too dangerous. Ice was so tough and then very slippery.
- [12:49]
Natalia Melman Petruzella
Pasang is in an area called the Traverse. He's looking for the fixed ropes that go down below into the bottleneck, but they're nowhere. Thankfully, he manages to find a thin rope hanging from a nearby ice screw. It's the one that was left behind by Norwegian climber Lars Nasse. Pasang clips in and begins to descend.
- [13:09]
Pasang Lama
It was very hard to rapple down.
- [13:13]
Natalia Melman Petruzella
Suddenly, Pasang is yanked to the side.
- [13:16]
Pasang Lama
I was hit on the rock and then I saw a little bit of blood.
- [13:22]
Natalia Melman Petruzella
Peering up above, he can spot the headlamp of Pemba Gol Jay Sherpa. He's been separated from his team leader, Wilko van Royen. Pemba is a legendary climber. He's an ethnic Sherpa from the Solakumbu region in Nepal. But his climbing is an equal member of Wilco's team. He hasn't been hired to do a job like Pasang has. Pemba's kind of a hero to Pasang.
- [13:44]
Pasang Lama
He is shinier than us, more senior.
- [13:48]
Natalia Melman Petruzella
As in a more experienced climber.
- [13:51]
Pasang Lama
He is one of the toughest, you know, world class mountaineer.
- [13:54]
Natalia Melman Petruzella
Also, Pemba is clipped into the same rope as Pasang.
- [13:59]
Pasang Lama
His weight was pulling me from right to left side, you know, and then I was catch up by Pemba. Pemba told me, do you go first or I go first? I told him, go first. Then he crossed me, you know.
- [14:16]
Natalia Melman Petruzella
Pasang steels himself and follows Pemba, hoping they'll find the rest of the fixed ropes further down. While Pasang is still trying to work his way down, he hears a worrying message from Pemba.
- [14:30]
Pasang Lama
Bamba was telling me there is no rope. My mind thinking, oh, no.
- [14:37]
Natalia Melman Petruzella
If there's no ropes, they'll need to climb down the rocks using only their ice axes and crampons. But that's a problem for Pasang.
- [14:44]
Pasang Lama
I have no ice axe.
- [14:46]
Natalia Melman Petruzella
He left it behind. It's still holding up the makeshift rope system further up the mountain. It would take a miracle to make it down the bottleneck with no ropes and no ice axe, especially in the pitch black night.
- [14:59]
Pasang Lama
I don't know how to get down.
- [15:01]
Natalia Melman Petruzella
It's at this moment, almost as if in answer to a prayer, the cheering Dorje appears. He calls down to Pemba and Pasang, who have managed to get themselves off the rope. He's pleading for both of them to please wait for him.
- [15:15]
Shiring Dorje Sherpa
Please rob or not, Please wait for me.
- [15:19]
Natalia Melman Petruzella
Shiring, Pasang and Pemba are now all standing on a thin rock ledge somewhere near the bottom of the bottleneck.
- [15:26]
Pasang Lama
Now we were three people there.
- [15:28]
Natalia Melman Petruzella
They're discussing what to do next. Pemba heads down first, using his axe to crunch into the mountainside. He slowly descends into the rocks below. Fading from view, Shiring turns to Pasang.
- [15:41]
Shiring Dorje Sherpa
I told him, pasang, let's go now.
- [15:44]
Natalia Melman Petruzella
Shiring can't bring himself to leave Pasang behind. It's just not in his nature to avoid helping someone. He keeps a spare oxygen set up in his backpack, just in case someone might need it. Shiring is also a devout Buddhist, and in Buddhism there's a concept called sonam. It's all about being virtuous and doing good deeds that will come back in your favor when you're reincarnated in the next life. For someone like Shirring, Sonam is paramount, especially when you're under the watchful eye of a mountain goddess who holds your life in the palm of her hand. He also knows Pasang has a family back home waiting for his return. He tells Pasang, if we're lucky, we'll both see our families again.
- [16:26]
Shiring Dorje Sherpa
If not, we die together.
- [16:28]
Natalia Melman Petruzella
We die together.
- [16:30]
Shiring Dorje Sherpa
Let's go.
- [16:33]
Natalia Melman Petruzella
Shirin connects his harness to Pasang's and together they descend out of the bottleneck, a single ice axe between them. Pasang goes first.
- [16:42]
Pasang Lama
I was front. He was behind.
- [16:46]
Shiring Dorje Sherpa
You make a step. Good. Then he make a step.
- [16:50]
Pasang Lama
We, Chirindorje and I were climbing down together.
- [16:55]
Natalia Melman Petruzella
But then Pasang slips.
- [16:58]
Shiring Dorje Sherpa
He shout, oh.
- [17:00]
Natalia Melman Petruzella
It sends the two of them hurtling down. Shirring scrambles to bury his ice axe into rock, into ice, into anything that will stop them free falling into the darkness. Finally, after Tumbling for nearly 100ft, Shiring manages to sink his axe into the side of the mountain with a deafening crunch. They finally come to a stop. Their prayers have been answered. The goddess Takar Dul Sangma has spared them for now. The pair quickly managed to get back on their feet. Pasang says he doesn't really need Shirring's help. Anymore.
- [17:40]
Pasang Lama
It was not so difficult. I have full confidence that I can climb down, you know, even better.
- [17:50]
Natalia Melman Petruzella
Off in the distance, they can see a shining beam of light. It's Camp 4. Shiring breathes a sigh of relief.
- [18:00]
Shiring Dorje Sherpa
No, everything's okay.
- [18:02]
Natalia Melman Petruzella
As Shiring and Pasang finally stumble into Camp 4, they learn Pemba has also made it back safely. Shearing finds his teammate, Dr. Eric, waiting for him in a tent with hot tea. The two men rejoice in their reunion.
- [18:18]
Eric Meyer
I've never seen anyone so grateful to be where they were as. As he was. We were okay. Our entire team was okay.
- [18:28]
Natalia Melman Petruzella
Dr. Eric doesn't waste any time giving Shearing a checkup.
- [18:31]
Shiring Dorje Sherpa
He's checking my body and everything's. He give the medicine.
- [18:35]
Natalia Melman Petruzella
Shearing is physically okay, but he's struggling to talk about what happened.
- [18:40]
Eric Meyer
Words didn't come easily for him at that point. He had seen some things and experienced.
- [18:46]
Shiring Dorje Sherpa
Some stuff in the mountain. Very bad luck.
- [18:51]
Natalia Melman Petruzella
All collapsed in the mountain. Very bad luck. It's all collapsed.
- [18:58]
Eric Meyer
He was able to explain how for those that decided to wait for daylight to try to descend, how dire the situation was going to be. For those.
- [19:09]
Natalia Melman Petruzella
Elsewhere in Camp 4, an equally worn out Pasang Lama is making his way to his tent. He shares it with his cousin Jumik. That's the one who helped him set up those makeshift ropes earlier for their Korean clients before they got separated.
- [19:25]
Pasang Lama
And then, you know, went inside the tent and then I'm looking, the tent is empty.
- [19:30]
Natalia Melman Petruzella
Jumak is still out there.
- [19:33]
Pasang Lama
Why they are not coming, you know. Shit.
- [19:37]
Natalia Melman Petruzella
Pasang is really worried, but his eyes are drooping. He's been climbing for nearly 24 hours.
- [19:48]
Pasang Lama
Very tired, exhausted, and then fell asleep.
- [19:55]
Natalia Melman Petruzella
Pasang Lama's boss and leader of The Korean team, Mr. Kim, has also managed to stumble back down to Camp 4 after finding the same thin emergency rope Pasang had.
- [20:08]
Mr. Kim
When I descended using the rope, it was about 1 meter short of the ground, so I had to jump down. By the time I reached the bottom, the path we had taken was covered in ice blocks.
- [20:24]
Natalia Melman Petruzella
After the chaos of the descent, Mr. Kim realizes he's lost track of three of his teammates. They're longtime friends and climbing partners of Mr. Kim. They're all from the same region. A radio crackles with a distress call. It's his missing teammates.
- [20:43]
Mr. Kim
The message was that it was too late, the night was too dark and they couldn't descend. They were cold and hungry and needed warm food and water. That was the last communication, and I acknowledged it, promising to prepare for the morning. We Knew that attempting a night rescue would only lead to more accidents. Our only option was to prepare warm clothing, water and food to bring up at first light.
- [21:26]
Natalia Melman Petruzella
As dawn begins to break the next morning, rays of light bounce against the snow covered slopes of K2. It's August 2nd. The climbers in Camp 4 are getting ready to mount a huge rescue operation. Up above 27,000ft. Wilco and his two companions, Jer and Marco have survived their night in the death zone.
- [21:50]
Wilko van Royen
The sun was rising and we started in searching again.
- [21:55]
Natalia Melman Petruzella
Wilco takes his goggles off as he scans the mountainside, trying to get a better view of where the fixed ropes might be. But then he discovers something is seriously wrong with his eyes.
- [22:08]
Wilko van Royen
Painful like hell. And is getting worse and worser.
- [22:12]
Natalia Melman Petruzella
He's going snow blind. Up this high, the ultraviolet radiation from the sun is a lot more powerful than it is at sea level. The gleaming light of the sun bounces against the pure white snow and back into your eyes. If you're wearing goggles, you should be fine. But Wilko has been taking his off to try to spot the missing ropes.
- [22:31]
Wilko van Royen
I was raising my glasses too much because I was thinking I can see it more clearly.
- [22:38]
Natalia Melman Petruzella
Wilco's had snow blindness before on the South Pole, and he knows it can get bad, really bad.
- [22:46]
Wilko van Royen
The pain is the most heavy thing.
- [22:49]
Natalia Melman Petruzella
It also makes your vision blurry.
- [22:51]
Wilko van Royen
You can't see sharp anymore. The only thing you can do is close your eyes.
- [22:57]
Natalia Melman Petruzella
Squinting through the pain, Wilco tries to weigh his options.
- [23:01]
Wilko van Royen
I was really trying think logical, you know, what are the best options. Keep sitting was not an option. If I really get snow blind, it's done. There was no other possibility. I have to go down. There's no moment to lose. I have to go away immediately.
- [23:22]
Natalia Melman Petruzella
He calls out to Marco and Jer to let them know he's leaving. And so, barely able to see a thing, Wilko stands up and wanders off into the epic whiteness below. After some time stumbling through the snow, Wilco spots a length of rope with his blurry, painful eyes. He follows it.
- [23:54]
Wilko van Royen
Suddenly, you know, I was climbing and there were some people beside me, three of them hanging in the ropes.
- [24:03]
Natalia Melman Petruzella
It's Pasang Lama's cousin Jumik and two of the missing Korean climbers. They're almost hanging off the side of the mountain. Caught near the huge ice cliff known as the serac, they're each completely tangled up, rope wrapped tightly around their bodies like a snake crushing its prey. This part of the mountain is almost vertical.
- [24:25]
Wilko van Royen
They couldn't release themselves because it was 90 degrees. If you cut the ropes, you'd fall into the death.
- [24:39]
Natalia Melman Petruzella
The two Korean climbers seem pretty unresponsive, but Jumak is awake.
- [24:44]
Wilko van Royen
I was in face contact, actually, and he could still talk. I was asking, you know, do you need something? He said, yes. Do you have extra clothes with you? Because he lost his clothes.
- [24:56]
Natalia Melman Petruzella
Jumik tells him he'd roped himself to his two Korean clients the night before. But when part of the serac collapsed, the three men cascaded down the mountain, tumbling over one another. Once they'd finally come to a stop, they'd been unable to move or freed themselves. They've been stuck here upside down and tangled together in the icy cold and terrifying dark for hours. The force of the fall knocked Jumek's gloves off. His bare hands have been exposed to the biting cold all night long. Wilco gives Jumyk his spare gloves.
- [25:31]
Wilko van Royen
I was asking, you know, do you have contact with base camp? Yes. Help is coming.
- [25:36]
Natalia Melman Petruzella
Jumik says he's heard a radio message from Mr. Kim saying a rescue team is on its way. Wilka tries to have faith that he's right.
- [25:44]
Wilko van Royen
I was thinking, I don't know how. It will take a long time before people can reach this point, if they reach that point.
- [26:00]
Natalia Melman Petruzella
Wilco knows the longer he stays here, the more he's putting his own life in danger. He's still going snow blind, and he's been at extreme altitude for well over 24 hours. He has to make the brutal try to save these three trapped climbers or save himself.
- [26:19]
Wilko van Royen
I was fighting for my own life. I had to say goodbye.
- [26:35]
Natalia Melman Petruzella
Once more, Wilgo starts descending, leaving the three tangled climbers hanging on the mountainside. On the next episode of Extreme Peak Danger. Lives hang in the balance as climbers risk it all to mount a rescue before time runs out.
- [27:02]
Wilko van Royen
A lot of people were in trouble.
- [27:04]
Natalia Melman Petruzella
I think he very much wanted to stay alive for his family.
- [27:08]
Wilko van Royen
You are between two worlds or something.
- [27:10]
Pasang Lama
I don't want to go. I don't want to go. I also die. I also die.
- [27:15]
Wilko van Royen
Why is this happening? Why this can't be the end.
- [27:25]
Natalia Melman Petruzella
Extreme Peak Danger is produced produced by Lee Meyer and Amalia Sortland. The editor is Joe Wheeler with additional production from Keith. Ken Young Park Sound design and mix by Nicholas Alexander. Additional engineering by Daniel Kempsett Original music by Adam Foran. Our theme music for Extreme Peak Danger is by Silverhawk AKA Cyril Poirier and Adam Foran. Our production managers are Cherie Houston and Joe Savage. Story development by Amalia Sortland. Our commissioning editor at the BBC is dan Clark. Max O'Brien and Craig Strachan are executive producers. And I'm Natalia Melman Petruzella, your host and executive producer. Extreme is produced by novel for the BBC.
- [28:20]
Jane McSorley
In December 1969, Muriel Mackay vanished from her London home.
- [28:26]
Natalia Melman Petruzella
We have your wife. A million pounds to get her back.
- [28:29]
Jane McSorley
Two men toggling. Rupert Murdoch's wife, Anna, had abducted Muriel by mistake. It was the first high profile kidnapping in British history and the tabloid press were hooked.
- [28:40]
Natalia Melman Petruzella
You know, was she alive? Was she dead?
- [28:42]
Jane McSorley
The police were baffled.
- [28:44]
Wilko van Royen
It's a more studious crime, kidnapping.
- [28:46]
Natalia Melman Petruzella
It's worse than just a straight murder.
- [28:48]
Jane McSorley
And Muriel's family was thrown into a nightmare that continues to this day.
- [28:53]
Shiring Dorje Sherpa
I just want to find my mother's body.
- [28:55]
Jane McSorley
I'm Jane McSorley and this is Intrigue Worse Than Murder. Listen on BBC Signs.