Spanish climber dies on Himalayan peak
MADRID – A Spanish climber has died on the world’s seventh highest mountain after falling and surviving for three nights without food or water, his family said Monday.
Juanjo Garra, 49, died on Dhaulagiri mountain in the Himalayas after rescue attempts failed to bring him down to an altitude where helicopters could land. The Sherpa who was climbing with him survived.
Using Garra’s personal blog and Twitter account, his family said Garra and the Sherpa were stranded in heavy snow, strong winds and temperatures as low as minus 9 Fahrenheit.
In mourning Garra’s death, the family wrote, “Juanjo stays in heaven.”
According to the family, Garra and a Sherpa fell on Thursday while descending from Dhaulagiri’s 26,795-foot summit, and the Spaniard was no longer able to walk.
Shortly afterward, reports appeared in the Spanish media saying the climber was unable to descend and that a helicopter was heading to the mountain’s base camp.
Mexico police unit to search for missing
MEXICO CITY – Mexico has created a special investigative unit to search for missing people and it is already working on locating them, authorities said Monday.
Attorney General Jesus Murillo Karam said the unit includes 12 federal investigators and a group of federal police agents as support. The unit will be part of the Attorney General’s Office, he said.
“We don’t do magic but we will exhaust all options and speak with the absolute truth about the chances of seeing results,” Murillo Karam said, adding that authorities will work with relatives of the missing, many of whom have done their own investigations.
Murillo Karam, who was accompanied by Interior Minister Miguel Angel Osorio Chong, made the announcement at a news conference.
Disappearances have become a sensitive issue in Mexico, where thousands of families have reported to authorities a family member was kidnapped by drug trafficking groups or law- enforcement officials. Few of the missing have been located.
10th suspect arrested in UK soldier’s slaying
LONDON – Police on Monday arrested a 10th suspect in connection with the vicious killing of an off-duty British soldier on a London street in an apparent Islamic extremist attack.
The 50-year-old man was detained in Welling, east of London, on suspicion of conspiring to murder 25-year-old soldier Lee Rigby, Scotland Yard said. Police didn’t provide further details about the suspect.
The latest arrest came as around 1,000 supporters of a far-right group marched through central London protesting the killing, clashing with a smaller group of anti-fascist demonstrators.
Police have taken nine other suspects into custody, including the two main ones who were shot and wounded by officers at the scene of Wednesday’s killing. Michael Adebolajo, 28, and Michael Adebowale, 22, remain under guard in London hospitals. Four other men remain in custody at a London police station.
Associated Press
