Italian Mountain Climber Found Dead in Peru, Another Lost

Lima: Italian mountain climber found dead in Peru, another lost Searchers in Peru on Tuesday found the body of one of two Italian climbers who disappeared last week trying to reach one of the Andes' highest peaks.

"We do not yet have the identity of the Italian; we found him near the base" of the 5,947-meter (19,511-foot) Alpamayo mountain, said Major Mayra Rivera, chief of the police in Huaraz.

The climber was found near the village of Caraz, Rivera said, while the search for his climbing partner was still on.

The men, whose identities were not released, "were headed to the summit when a ledge broke off in the zone of the northeast face," rescue team chief Alfredo Quintanilla said Tuesday.

He said the high-altitude search team included around 10 rescue workers in two groups working in coordination with police.

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The effort to find the two missing climbers, both in their 20s, has been under way since Saturday, when two other Italian climbers from their group alerted authorities to their disappearance.

Alpamayo features a daunting slope that renders an ascent particularly challenging, as well as pyramids of ice that have prompted the nickname among locals of "the most beautiful mountain in the world."

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It is part of Peru's Cordillera Blanca, or "White Range", which stretches 180 kilometers (112 miles) and includes numerous peaks that soar 6,000 meters or higher.