Body of HK mountaineer missing for 10 years cremated in NW China
7/8/2008 17:15
A body discovered by Chinese glacier researchers by chance last month on
Mount Bogda in the northwestern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region has been
cremated, said local police today.
The remains turned out to be that of a
Hong Kong mountaineer Lam Chi-wai who disappeared ten years ago, a police
spokesman said.
The researchers with the Lanzhou glacier and frozen earth
institute found the body on July 23 at 3,980 meters above sea level when they
were climbing up the mountain on a scientific expedition.
Ho Chi-ming, head
of the Hong Kong Ngok Fung Rock Climbing Society, arrived in Xinjiang on July 29
and confirmed that the identity of the body as society member Lam Chi-wai.
"I
will take the ashes back to Hong Kong after I get the death certificate issued
by the regional government," said Ho.
Ho said he would continue efforts to
search for the other two members, Chan King-chuen, and Yeung Chi-ho, who
disappeared with Lam Chi-wai.
The trio were with a 10-strong team from Hong
Kong when they went lost in snowstorms on Aug. 15, 1998, as they attempted to
scale the 5,445-meter peak of Bogda.
A Chinese Army helicopter searched the
mountain area at up to 5,200 meters after the accident without success.
A
group of rescuers dispatched by the Xinjiang Mountaineering Association found an
empty tent with equipment buried in snow at 4,700 meters.
The search
continued for 17 days and then were called off.
In June, the administration
of the Bogda nature reserve banned trekkers and mountaineers from the
snow-capped peak, a core region of the UN listed International Biosphere
Reserve.
Xinhua
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