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Mountaineer dies on Europe's Mont Blanc despite rescue attempts

AFP
AFP - [email protected]
Mountaineer dies on Europe's Mont Blanc despite rescue attempts
A picture taken from a helicopter on August 7, 2020 shows the Planpincieux glacier of the Grandes Jorasses, on the Italian side of the Mont Blanc massif, with the Courmayeur village in the background, Val Ferret, northwestern Italy. - An alpine resort in Italy was on high alert on August 6 and dozens of people were evacuated over fears a huge chunk of a mountain glacier could break away because of sudden high temperatures. The hovering block of ice from the Planpincieux glacier within the Mont Blanc massif is estimated at about 500,000 cubic metres. (Photo by Andrea BERNARDI / AFP)

A French mountaineer died close to the summit of Mont Blanc on Friday after rescuers made several attempts to get to him in a violent storm.

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The man, in his forties, was climbing Europe's highest peak when he lost his way and got stuck at 4,800 metres (15,700 feet), assailed by "the storm, the wind, the cold," rescuer André-Vianney Espinasse told AFP.

He called for help on Thursday evening.

Several helicopters attempted to rescue him but couldn't get to him due to the weather, Espinasse said.

As a result, one helicopter dropped rescuers off lower down, at 3,200 metres, forcing them to climb the rest of the way at night.

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At two in the morning, after reaching a refuge and waiting for the weather to ease, they climbed further into heavy winds.

They found the man some two hours later, suffering from severe hypothermia.

But "at 5.30, in awful winds, the mountaineer suffered a cardiac arrest," said Espinasse.

A fresh attempt by a helicopter to lift the victim off the mountain failed once again due to the high winds.

The rescuers then decided to leave the body and get out of "this extremely dangerous area".

A rescue helicopter from neighbouring Italy eventually managed to lift the body off the mountain.

"Going solo on high mountains should really be avoided due to all the dangers involved," Espinasse said.

Mont Blanc is between the regions of Aosta Valley in Italy and Savoie and Haute-Savoie in France

 

 

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