Missing Italian climber comes in contact
Corona, who was doing an alpine-style climb without bottled oxygen and Sherpa aid, had reached the summit on Thursday together with at least a dozen other climbers from two expedition agencies.
An aerial search team has located missing Italian climber Giampaolo Corona below the summit of Mount Annapurna. Corona was spotted at an altitude of 7400 meters, near the spot where he was last seen before he went out of contact on Thursday afternoon, according to Mingma Sherpa. He is in good health and declined an offer for a ground rescue team.
“The agency has informed us that the climber who was out of contact contacted their officials stationed at the mountain’s base camp,” said Bhishma Bhattarai, an officer at the Department of Tourism, “They will provide additional information or can carry out rescue tomorrow if needed.”
A helicopter arranged by the Seven Summit Treks had carried out the aerial search of the peak.
Corona, who was doing an alpine-style climb without bottled oxygen and Sherpa aid, had reached the summit on Thursday together with at least a dozen other climbers from two expedition agencies.
The 8,091-meter (26,545-foot) Annapurna is the 10th tallest mountain in the world.
