Four Japanese missing after US avalanche

Four Japanese climbers in their 50s and 60s are missing after they were hit by an avalanche on Mount McKinley in the United States, a tour organiser said today.

Four Japanese climbers in their 50s and 60s are missing after they were hit by an avalanche on Mount McKinley in the United States, a tour organiser said on Sunday.

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Five climbers on an expedition to scale the mountain were caught up in the avalanche on Thursday, an official at Miyagi Workers Alpine Federation, the organiser of the tour, told AFP.

One escaped from a crevasse and made it back to base camp.

Mount McKinley in Alaska state is North America's tallest peak, standing at 6,194 metres (20,320 feet).

Officials at Denali National Park have been searching for the missing climbers with a helicopter but have failed to locate them, Jiji Press and other Japanese media reported.