Japanese climber dies in Nepal

KATHMANDU, June 7: A 63-year-old Japanese woman and her Nepalese guide have been swept to their deaths by an avalanche while trying to to scale a mountain in Nepal, local sources told AFP on Tuesday.



The two were attempting to summit the 5,844-metre (19,172 feet) Naya Kanga peak, 30 kilometres (18 miles) north of Nepal´s capital Kathmandu, which is considered a difficult mountain to scale.[break]



"Masue Yoshida and Kumar Rai were killed by an avalanche in the afternoon on Saturday on Naya Kanga peak," said Mahabir Gurung, a friend of Rai´s who works in the tourism industry, adding efforts to retrieve their bodies were underway.



The Japanese embassy in Kathmandu confirmed the dead woman´s name and age.



Rai, 36, owned a Kathmandu-based mountaineering company, Nireekha Treks, that had organised the Japanese woman´s expedition, Gurung said.



Another Japanese, Takashi Ozaki, died on May 12 while attempting to scale Mount Everest, the world´s tallest peak at 8,848-metres (29,028 foot).

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