Mexican rescue units found the body of a young American alpinist that had gone missing on the Citlatépetl volcano on Sunday, Jan. 5.
The director of Civil Protection in the state of Puebla, Jesús Morales, told the AFP that three groups of alpinists arrived at the Citlatépetl volcano, also known as Pico de Orizaba, Friday, Jan. 3.
The groups were formed by two Mexican alpinists, two from Guatemala, and two Americans. The groups planned to descend on Saturday.
Puebla Civil Protection received an emergency call saying that the groups were lost somewhere on Mexico's tallest volcano. Rescue teams from the state of Veracruz worked to recover the lost climbers.
The coordinator of Tall Mountain Rescue of Puebla's Red Cross, Juan Carlos González Gatica, told the AFP that the body of the young American was found in one of the coldest areas of the volcano.
"We delivered 24-year-old American Dakota Koll's body to the Public Ministry," said Juan Carlos González.
The group with which Koll traveled was at a height of almost 5,000 meters in the area known as "The Coffin" where many climbers can get disoriented.
"The Coffin" is known by rescue units to be an area where many foreign climbers get lost and must be rescued immediately due to low temperatures and dangers in the area.
The Associated Press added that Koll's death was due to a 90-meter fall he suffered.
Rescue teams also found a Mexican climber who had suffered an injury to her ankle.
Rescue efforts continued for two days at a height of 5,700 meters to locate the Guatemalan climbers.
All the climbers were rescued and brought to an area with a height of 3,600 meters and received immediate medical attention aboard a helicopter.
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