3 dead, 12 injured after fall while climbing Ecuador volcano

(File photo) View of the Carihuairazo Volcano, Ecuador’s central Andes, on February 18, 2019. – The Chimborazo and the Carihuairazo are two of the seven elevations that are losing their glacier coverage in Ecuador mainly due to the deforestation of the moorlands and burning of fossil fuels. (Photo by Pablo Cozzaglio / AFP)

 

QUITO, Ecuador (AFP) — Three mountaineers died and 12 were injured after they fell while climbing Ecuador’s Carihuairazo volcano, rescue services said Saturday.

“A 47-year-old woman and two men aged 45 and 50 died in this emergency,” ECU911 rescue services said in a statement.

“Due to weather conditions and nightfall, it was not possible to evacuate the bodies.”

The 12 injured, aged between 39 and 58, were transferred to hospitals in the towns of Riobamba and Ambato.

The climbers were attempting to summit the central Andean volcano when they fell 60 meters (196 feet).

Carihuairazo, a 5,018-meter colossus in Tungurahua province, neighbors Chimborazo volcano — the highest peak in the country at over 6,200 meters.

The recovery of the bodies of those who died, all Ecuadorians, will continue on Sunday.

 

© Agence France-Presse

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