SECOND ITALIAN CLIMBER DIES ON MOUNT ARARAT
Anatolian Times, Turkey
Sept 8 2006
ANKARA – Rescue workers on Friday found the body of a second Italian
mountainer at the summit of Mount Ararat, eastern Turkey, his travel
agent said.
The second climber to die was named as Franco Pacifico, 65, a member of
an 11-member Italian team that reached the 5,136-metre (16,850-foot)
summit on Tuesday but got caught in a heavy blizzard, Mustafa Kaya
told AFP.
Officials said on Thursday that another member of the group, Caterina
Fruttero, had also lost her life.
Both are believed to have died of hypothermia.
Kaya said the remaining nine mountaineers had descended safely.
Mount Ararat (Agri in Turkish) is located in easternmost Turkey, where
the borders of Iran, Armenia and the Azeri enclave of Nakhchivan meet.
Most of it is a closed military zone and mountaineers need special
permission from the Turkish authorities for expeditions on the
mountain.
From: Baghdasarian