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Avalanche kills

5 foreign K-2

mountaineers

ISLAMABAD: Five climbers, including a British woman, were killed by an avalanche near the summit of Pakistan's K-2, the world's second highest mountain, a Pakistani army captain said on Thursday.

The officer, speaking by telephone from the northern town of Skardu, said two Spaniards, one American, one Briton and one Canadian had died in the accident, which happened on Sunday.

"The terrain is so difficult that no aerial or other evacuation of the bodies is possible," he told Reuters.

The avalanche struck when the climbers were 611 metres (1,894 feet) from the top of the 8,611 metre (28,250-ft) high peak in the Karakoram range in northern Pakistan.

The mountaineers had been at Camp 4, the last camp before the summit, said the officer, who asked not to be named.

He said the American was Robert John Slater, from Colorado, and his climbing partner, Scotswoman Alison Hargreaves, 33, who this year became the first woman to conquer Everest, the world's highest peak, alone and without oxygen.

The Canadian was identified as Jeff Lakes, who had been climbing with a five-member New Zealand expedition led by Peter Hillary, son of Sir Edmund Hillary, who made the first successful ascent of Everest in 1952.

The Spaniards were not immediately identified.

Spanish, New Zealand and US -British expeditions had been climbing K-2 at the same time.

A staff member of Nazir Sabir Expeditions, a Pakistani agency which helped organise all three expeditions, said up to seven climbers had been reported missing, but he had no details.-Reuter