Climber returns after Himalayas success

Gregory Attard, the first Maltese to reach the summit of Gasherbrum I and II mountains in the Pakistani Himalayas unassisted, was given a warm welcome by family and friends at the airport this afternoon. The 36-year-old doctor and expert mountaineer, scaled the two 8,000-metrehigh mountains within a week. The expedition was fraught with uncertainty and fear following one of the worst terrorist attacks on climbers. In June, Taliban gunmen stormed the Base Camp of Nanga Parbat, Pakistan, and shot dead nine foreign trekkers and a Pakistani guide.