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Three fall to their deaths on New Zealand's Mt. Cook

A British and a Japanese climber and their local guide fell to their deaths yesterday in an accident close to the summit of New Zealand's highest mountain, Mt. Cook, authorities said.

John Lowndes, a 59-year-old salesman from Stoke-on-Trent in England, and Kazuhiro Kotani, a 29-year-old from Hyogo, Japan, died while crossing Ball Pass, Christchurch police spokeswoman Maggie Leask said in a statement.

The pair were roped together along with Erica Jane Beuzenberg, an acclaimed 41-year-old New Zealand climber and guide, Leask said. One of the climbers slipped and all three of them fell 200m to their deaths early yesterday.

Bad weather in the mountains of New Zealand's South Island forced police to call off attempts to recover the bodies yesterday

"The bodies will remain where they are until the weather clears enough to remove them," Leask said. "This could be several days."

An unknown number of other climbers survived.

New Zealand's highest mountain, at 3,754m, Mt. Cook was first climbed in 1894 and attracts hundreds of climbers each year. However, the mountain can be treacherous -- it is reported that 214 people have died on Mt. Cook since it was first conquered.

The Balls Pass is not considered one of the most difficult parts of the mountain.

"It is an unspeakable tragedy that such an experienced guide died on the job on what is perceived to be easy terrain," said Gottlieb Braun-Elwert, founder of the guide company that employed Beuzenberg.

Braun-Elwert said the climbers were descending a slope covered in snow and ice when one of them slipped and as he tried to brace himself against a fall he unbalanced the guide and another climber.

They slid down the slope and off an ice cliff.

"The party then slid some further 200m down an icy slope before coming to a rest," he said. "All three were confirmed dead at the arrival of the search and rescue party."

Braun-Elwert said Beuzenberg was one of New Zealand's most experienced female climbers, who had worked as a guide for the company for 16 years.
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