Late this Monday afternoon, the French emergency services located the lifeless bodies of two Spanish mountaineers, from Barcelona, ​​who had been missing since last Saturday in the region of Pic Carlit, on the eastern French side of the Pyrenees.
The French authorities mobilized resources to locate the two mountaineers and some 15 rescuers were mobilized this Monday, including six agents from the High Mountain Gendarmerie Platoons, reported local French media.
The difficult conditions made work difficult due to poor visibility, wind gusts of more than 100 kilometers per hour and low temperatures of up to 25 degrees below zero. The prepared rescue helicopter could also not be used due to weather conditions.
The mountaineers, aged 54 and 56, had left on Saturday with the intention of climbing Carlit Peak, a mountain 2,900 meters high from sea level, and they intended to spend the night in a mountain refuge, which apparently they never managed to locate. For this reason they had to spend the night outdoors despite the strong wind and snow.
The two mountaineers contacted the Bolquère mountain rescue services early Sunday morning, after spending the night under the snow. They told them its altitude, 2,700 meters, but could not indicate its exact geographical position.
The news portal actu.fr has reported that a helicopter was able to fly over the area on Monday and sighted the two climbers when they were near the Tossal Colomer peak, 2,700 meters above sea level.
The authorities have opened an investigation, although everything indicates that both died of hypothermia.
