After some recuperation the party left base camp on 11 August with Compagnoni going ahead, wanting to hasten to Italy for hospital treatment. Lacedelli, with Pagnini's medical support, preferred to take things more slowly to try and avoid unnecessary amputations of his fingers. Mahdi was much the worst affected and went to hospital in Skardu, eventually having nearly all his fingers and toes amputated. The press speculated, mostly correctly, on who had been in the summit party so when Compagnoni flew into Rome in early September he was treated as a hero. The main party arrived at Genoa by sea later in September and Desio flew in to Rome in October. At the height of the celebrations on 12 October Desio announced the names of those who had reached the summit. This news flopped because it had been repeatedly reported (through speculation) for months. Earlier the CAI, while still refusing to name who they were, had even  published a photo of Compagnoni and Lacedelli on the summit. However, before the party had left Pakistan, a scandal had been making headlines in the subcontinent's press. Mahdi had been reported as saying he had been within of the summit but his two Italian companions had not allowed him to go any higher. This received very little attention internationally but the matter was serious enough for the Italian ambassador to Karachi to hold an inquiry. He did not speak to Mahdi but interviewed the Italians involved as well as Ata-Ullah, the liaison officer, to whom Mahdi had made his complaints. The report concluded that no porters had been near the summit; Bonatti and Mahdi turned back below Camp IX leaving the oxygen respirators; and Mahdi had been wild and undisciplined trying to escape the bivouac. This satisfied the Pakistan government and even the press calmed down. However, it was only very many years later that Bonatti came to believe that in reality Desio regarded the report as a cover-up (one that Desio approved of) for what he believed had been Bonatti's attempt to sabotage the expedition. This was to cause repercussions over the next fifty years. It was not until 1977 that the next summit of K2 was achieved, by a well equipped, relatively modern Japanese expedition, with fifty-nine climbers and 1500 porters, who again took the Abruzzi ridge.