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2 Japanese climbers fall to their deaths on Mt. Fuji

Xinhua, November 21, 2016 Adjust font size:

Two Japanese climbers who disappeared on Sunday near the peak of Mt. Fuji fell to their deaths, Japanese police officials confirmed Monday.

The police named the victims as 18 years old Ibuki Suemoto and 65 years old Katsutoshi Watanabe, and said that the pair had gone missing from a 6-member climbing group visiting Japan's highest mountain from Hiroshima Prefecture.

Police reports stated that the group had left the sixth station on the mountain in the early hours of Sunday morning, but that Watanabe had lost his footing on an icy incline and fell to his death, with Suemoto falling at some point after that.

Suemoto, a university student, however, managed to call the emergency services at around 10 a.m. local time and told the police he was near the ninth station of one of the trails on the mountain but unable to move.

The police recovered Watanabe's body from the seventh station at 8 a.m. and said they found Suemoto's body at the same station but showing no vital signs.

The iconic Mt. Fuji, situated at the border of both Shizuoka and Yamanashi prefectures, is an active volcano and lies about 100 kilometers southwest of Tokyo.

It is a popular hotspot for both locals and tourists as the summit of Japan's highest mountain, at 3,776.24 meters, offers breathtaking panoramas at sunrise. Enditem