2 people are dead and 1 is missing in climbing accident on Mexico's highest peak

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Two people died and another remains missing on Mexico’s Pico de Orizaba, the highest mountain in the country, authorities said Wednesday.

Authorities in the central state of Puebla said late Tuesday that rescuers had found the body of a guide who was leading an ascent of the 18,619 feet (5,675 meter) volcanic peak. Another person from the 12-member climbing group died earlier on the peak, which is also known by its Indigenous name Citlaltépetl.

The guide’s body was found at an altitude of about 15,000 feet (4,600 meters), and was being brought down from the mountain on Wednesday.

But the state interior department said the search continues for another climber from the group who was still missing.

The state civil defense office said the group had started up the mountain on Saturday, but lost their way amid difficult weather conditions. Five made it down on their own on Sunday, and four others were rescued on the mountain.

Accidents on the peak are not uncommon, and since 2015 rescuers and climbers have found at least three mummified bodies in the snow there. They apparently were climbers lost in a 1959 avalanche.

In 2018, the U.S. Embassy in Mexico said a member of the U.S. diplomatic mission died while climbing on the mountain.

In November 2017, another American climber died and seven others were rescued on the mountain.

In 2023, four Mexican citizens died in a climbing accident on the Pico de Orizaba.

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