Five climbers on Nepal’s Mount Kanchenjunga, the world’s third-highest peak, went missing earlier in the week and are now believed to be dead, a mountaineering chief said on Friday.
Two of the climbers were from Hungary, one from South Korea, and the other two, guides from Nepal, The Associated Press reported. They went missing on Monday during their descent. Poor weather conditions kept search teams from launching an immediate rescue mission and sending in a helicopter, AP said.
The five likely slipped during their descent, said Mountaineering Department spokeswoman Dipendra Poudel, in the AP report. They could have been nearly 26,000 feet up, she added.
The Hungarians were Zsolt Eross, 45, and Peter Kiss, 27, AP reported. The South Korean was Namsoo Park, 47, and the two guides: Phu Dorjee, 24, and Bibash Gurung, 25.
Mount Kanchenjunga is 28,162 feet high.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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