LIMA, June 27 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A mountaineer from Japan died and another was rescued during a trek on Peru’s tallest mountain, authorities saidy.
Chiaki Inada, 40, and Saki Terada, 36, became trapped Monday due to fog and bad weather on the mountain called Huascaran at an elevation of more than 21,000 feet (6,400 meters).
They were located by rescuers thanks to a GPS signal sent via a device in their possession, but not before Inada died from hypothermia, authorities said.
“We have rescued the Japanese citizen who was alive in order to deliver medical attention. Tomorrow we will transfer the body” of the second climber, General Antonio Loreno, the head of the police for the Ancash region, told TV Peru.
The pair arrived from Japan two weeks earlier and climbed the mountain without a guide.
Standing over 22,000 feet (6,700 meters) tall, Huascaran in the Cordillera Blanca mountain range draws climbers from around the world.
On Sunday, the bodies of three climbers who had been missing for more than 20 days in the same region were found after they were buried by an avalanche, authorities said.
And last July, the body of US mountaineer William Stampfl, who disappeared during an avalanche in 2002 while climbing Huascaran, was found mummified. — NNN-AGENCIES
