5 Climbers Buried in Avalanche in Japan
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TOKYO — An avalanche carrying tons of snow plummeted on a party of five mountain climbers in northern Japan, killing four and leaving one “miraculous” survivor, police said Friday.
The snow slide took place before noon Thursday on Mount Iwaki, in Aomori prefecture, about 341 miles north of Tokyo, and the climbers were reported missing Thursday night, police said.
A search party of 170 Self Defense Forces and police, many of them on skis, found 38-year-old climber Kami Hidejiro alive Thursday night. Near him they found the bodies of two of Kami’s four companions. The bodies of the two other climbers were found Friday.
“It’s miraculous--do you know how much snow fell on them? And he (Kami) still lived,” said a police spokesman.
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