US mountaineer dies on Mexico’s highest peak, others rescued

MEXICO CITY — Mexican authorities said Sunday that they had rescued nine climbers from Mexico’s tallest mountain in recent days, and one mountaineer from the United States had died.

Jose Luis Palma, the regional civil protection coordinator for Puebla state, said conditions were extremely dangerous because of the iced-over slopes of the 18,619-foot Pico de Orizaba. He said climbers “are not taking the necessary precautions to climb on that ice.”

Palma said the first rescue effort was mounted on Thursday when two U.S. citizens called for help after being injured in an accident. He said one of those died but the other was brought down with only bruises.

Over the weekend, both civil and military emergency teams were called out.

The navy said in a statement that it was alerted on Saturday that eight mountaineers, including six Americans and two Mexicans, were in trouble on “El Sarcofago” glacier near Orizaba’s peak. A helicopter was sent but bad weather prevented it from finding the climbers, it said.

On Sunday, the navy team was finally able to rescue two of those climbers and a civil protection squad brought down the other six.