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Two mountain climbers fall to their deaths in Swiss Alps


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Two mountain climbers fall to their deaths in Swiss Alps

2011-08-21 12:49:33 GMT+7 (ICT)

VALAIS, SWITZERLAND (BNO NEWS) -- Two mountain climbers were killed on Friday and Saturday as a result of two separate accidents in the Pennine Alps mountain range in Switzerland, police said on Sunday.

Valais Canton Police said the accident on Friday happened after a 43-year-old German tourist went mountain climbing alone on Lagginhorn, which has a maximum height of 4,010 meters (13,156 feet).

According to police, relatives of the man notified rescue services at around 8.30 p.m. local time on Friday after he failed to return. "Several searches by helicopter on the same evening brought no success," a police spokesperson said.

The search by helicopter was resumed on Saturday morning after which the body of the man was found on the western side of Lagginhorn at a height of about 3,600 meters (11,800 feet). "The man fell from a height of about 50 meters (164 feet)," police said.

In a separate accident on early Saturday morning, Wallis Canton Police said a 27-year-old Austrian tourist was killed after he and a partner had climbed the Dent Blanche. With its 4,356 meters (14,291 feet) high summit, Dent Blanche is one of the highest peaks in the Alps.

"On their way down the south ridge, at an altitude of 4,000 meters (13,120 feet), one of them plunged 400 meters (1,312 feet) into the depth and died," a police spokesperson said.

Since the beginning of the season, a total of 15 climbers have died in the region, most of them during the month of July. On July 15, five mountain climbers were killed as a result of three separate accidents on the Grand Combin, Lagginhorn, and Petit Mont Collon mountains.

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-- © BNO News All rights reserved 2011-08-21

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