The father of climber Tom Ballard, who went missing in the Himalayas five days ago, has said his son's disappearance is bringing back painful memories of his wife's death on K2 in 1995.

Helicopters have been scouring Pakistan's perilous Nanga Parbat for Tom, 30, and his Italian climbing partner Daniele Nardi, 42, who have not been heard from since Sunday.

The pair had been scaling the so-called "Killer Mountain", the ninth highest in the world, but disappeared at about 6,300 metres during fog, sleet and heavy winds.

Tom's father Jim Ballard said today that he still holds out hope that his son will return home, even though finding him will be "like finding a green beer mat on the pitch at Twickenham".

His wife, Alison Hargreaves, was the first woman to reach the top of Everest unaided. She died in 1995 aged just 33 during a descent from the peak of K2 in the Himalayas and her body has never been found.

“This takes me back to those days,” Mr Ballard told The Times.

“When the news broke there was no helicopter and we couldn’t get one to the base camp at K2. But the same day the Pakistani military became interested and said they could do send one and did.”