Five climbers freeze to death
2006-03-21 22:59
Tokyo - Five middle-aged climbers have frozen to death while climbing two separate mountains in Japan, and a skier has been reported missing on one of those slopes, say police on Tuesday.
Police spokesperson Katsuhiro Shirakawa said that rescuers found the bodies of two female climbers aged 54 and 62 near the snow-covered peak of Mount Sennokura in Niigata on Tuesday morning.
Shirakawa said that they died of hypothermia before rescuers found them. He said that seven surviving members of their climbing party, all from Yokohama, were flown to a hospital by a helicopter.
Shirakawa said that a 54-year-old skier from Tokyo had also been reported missing on the western slope of Sennokura, which was 2 026 metres high.
Susumu Kitahara of police said, separately, two men aged 57 and 47, and a 45-year-old female climber were found frozen to death on Monday on a snow-covered slope of Mount Amidadake -a 2 805-metre mountain - in Nagano.
Mount Amidadake was about 140km west of the capital. In both cases, police believe the climbers froze to death after cold gusts of wind sapped their strength.
- AP