Climbers from U.S., Canada missing on New Zealand's tallest mountain presumed dead
Three climbers from the U.S. and Canada who went missing five days ago on New Zealand’s tallest mountain are presumed dead, authorities said.
Three climbers from the U.S. and Canada who went missing five days ago on New Zealand’s tallest mountain are presumed dead, authorities said.
The two Americans and a Canadian climber were planning to summit Aoraki by using the Zurbriggen Ridge, but they never met their flight out Monday as planned, police said.
The search, which began the same day, has been hampered by poor weather, Aoraki Area Commander Inspector Vicki Walker said in a statement Friday afternoon local time.
Searchers in a helicopter spotted a jacket and an ice ax believed to belong to the men. Footprints and other evidence of where the group planned to traverse slopes beneath Zurbriggen Ridge have also been found, she said.
“After reviewing the number of days the climbers have been missing, no communication, the items we have retrieved, and our reconnaissance today, we do not believe the men have survived,” Walker said. “We believe they have taken a fall.”
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