Body of Japanese climber killed on Peru's highest peak recovered

The body of the Japanese climber who died this week while climbing Huascarán peak, Peru's highest mountain, was recovered on Saturday (28), rescuers said.

Chiaki Inada, 40, died of hypothermia five days ago when she was 6,500 meters above sea level on the snow-capped peak, located in the Áncash region, in the northern Peruvian Andes.

“We have already recovered the body of the Japanese climber. It was covered in snow,” Rolando López, from the Peruvian Andean Relief group responsible for the operation, told AFP. “The weather was terrible, we lowered the body on a stretcher using ropes,” he added.

The body was transported by helicopter from police headquarters to the morgue in the city of Huaraz, about 400 km north of Lima.

Inada and another Japanese woman, Saki Terada, 36, were trapped Monday while climbing Huascaran in fog and bad weather. Authorities said they were located by rescuers thanks to a GPS signal sent by a device they activated.

However, Inada could not resist the low temperatures, which can reach -30ºC, and died before help arrived, according to police, while Terada survived and was transferred to a hospital on Thursday.

The two had arrived in Peru two weeks ago to do adventure tourism and climbed the mountain without a guide.

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