WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) Improved weather Tuesday allowed New Zealand rescue teams to recover the bodies of two climbers who died on a mountain after being trapped for two nights in a blizzard.
Japanese Hiroki Ogawa, 31, and Nicole Sutton, 29, of New Zealand, were part of a group of climbers who reached the summit of Mount Taranaki on Saturday before encountering bad weather on the descent, police said.
Two other climbers in the group made it to safety after spending one night on the mountain.
Ogawa and Sutton dug themselves into the snow as best they could and had been texting police until Sunday night. But poor conditions prevented rescuers from reaching the pair until early Monday morning.
Police Inspector Blair Telford said Sutton was still alive when rescuers reached them. She was conversing with rescuers initially, he said, but then became unresponsive. Rescuers stayed with her for several hours while they unsuccessfully tried to revive her before bad weather forced them to leave.
