2 Foreign Climbers Rescued after Being Stranded in India’s Himalayas for 3 Days

 This photograph shared by Indian Air Force on the X platform shows two foreign climbers, center, who were stranded in India's Himalayas posing with Indian Air Force personnel who rescued them in Uttarakhand, India, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024. (Indian Air Force on X via AP)
This photograph shared by Indian Air Force on the X platform shows two foreign climbers, center, who were stranded in India's Himalayas posing with Indian Air Force personnel who rescued them in Uttarakhand, India, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024. (Indian Air Force on X via AP)
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2 Foreign Climbers Rescued after Being Stranded in India’s Himalayas for 3 Days

 This photograph shared by Indian Air Force on the X platform shows two foreign climbers, center, who were stranded in India's Himalayas posing with Indian Air Force personnel who rescued them in Uttarakhand, India, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024. (Indian Air Force on X via AP)
This photograph shared by Indian Air Force on the X platform shows two foreign climbers, center, who were stranded in India's Himalayas posing with Indian Air Force personnel who rescued them in Uttarakhand, India, Monday, Oct. 7, 2024. (Indian Air Force on X via AP)

Two foreign climbers have been rescued after being stranded for three days on a mountain in India’s Himalayan north.

Fay Jane Manners from the United Kingdom and Michelle Theresa Dvorak from the United States were ascending a rocky section of the Chaukhamba-3 peak in India’s Uttarakhand state when they got stranded there, said Sandeep Tiwari, a senior administrative officer of Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district. The climbers were rescued on Sunday, he said.

The climbers were first reported stranded on Thursday when a rockfall severed their rope, sending their bags — along with crucial supplies like food, tent and climbing gear — into a gorge. The climbers also lost most of their communication equipment, but managed to send out an emergency message the same day.

“We were pulling up my bag and she (Dvorak) had her bag on her. And the rockfall came, cut the rope with the other bag, and it just went down the entire mountain,” Manners told local reporters on Sunday.

The rescue operation took 80 hours to complete and involved the Indian air force and the Uttarakhand State Disaster Management Authority.

Rajkumar Negi, a spokesperson for India’s disaster management agency, said that two Indian Air Force helicopters dispatched on Friday to help with the search were unable to locate the climbers. But on Saturday, a French mountaineering team, which was also attempting to climb the Chaukhamba-3 peak, located the stranded climbers and relayed their coordinates to the rescue authorities.

The Indian air force said in a statement on social platform X that it airlifted the climbers on Sunday “from 17,400 feet, showcasing remarkable coordination in extreme conditions."

Chaukhamba-3 is a mountain peak in the Garhwal Himalaya in northern India.



Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Survivor, Who Devoted His Life for Peace, Dies at 93

Shigemi Fukahori is interviewed at the Urakami Cathedral in Nagasaki, southern Japan, on July 29, 2020. (Kyodo News via AP, File)
Shigemi Fukahori is interviewed at the Urakami Cathedral in Nagasaki, southern Japan, on July 29, 2020. (Kyodo News via AP, File)
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Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Survivor, Who Devoted His Life for Peace, Dies at 93

Shigemi Fukahori is interviewed at the Urakami Cathedral in Nagasaki, southern Japan, on July 29, 2020. (Kyodo News via AP, File)
Shigemi Fukahori is interviewed at the Urakami Cathedral in Nagasaki, southern Japan, on July 29, 2020. (Kyodo News via AP, File)

Shigemi Fukahori, a survivor of the 1945 Nagasaki atomic bombing, who devoted his life to advocating for peace has died. He was 93.

Fukahori died at a hospital in Nagasaki, southwestern Japan, on Jan. 3, the Urakami Catholic Church, where he prayed almost daily until last year, said on Sunday. Local media reported he died of old age.

The church, located about 500 meters from ground zero and near the Nagasaki Peace Park, is widely seen as a symbol of hope and peace, as its bell tower and some statues and survived the nuclear bombing.

Fukahori was only 14 when the US dropped the bomb on Nagasaki on Aug. 9, 1945, killing tens of thousands of people, including his family. That came three days after the nuclear attack on Hiroshima, which killed 140,000 people. Japan surrendered days later, ending World War II and the country's nearly half-century of aggression across Asia.

Fukahori, who worked at a shipyard about 3 kilometers (2 miles) from where the bomb dropped, couldn’t talk about what happened for years, not only because of the painful memories but also how powerless he felt then.

About 15 years ago, he became more outspoken after encountering, during a visit to Spain, a man who experienced the bombing of Guernica in 1937 during the Spanish Civil War when he was also 14 years old. The shared experience helped Fukahori open up.

“On the day the bomb dropped, I heard a voice asking for help. When I walked over and held out my hand, the person’s skin melted. I still remember how that felt,” Fukahori told Japan’s national broadcaster NHK in 2019.

He often addressed students, hoping they take on what he called “the baton of peace,” in reference to his advocacy.

When Pope Francis visited Nagasaki in 2019, Fukahori was the one who handed him a wreath of white flowers. The following year, Fukahori represented the bomb victims at a ceremony, making his “pledge for peace,” saying: “I am determined to send our message to make Nagasaki the final place where an atomic bomb is ever dropped.”

A wake is scheduled for Sunday, and funeral services on Monday at Urakami Church, where his daughter will represent the family.