Mount Tokachi (2,077 m) Japan - hiking, separated in snowstorm


A tourist from Hong Kong has died and another city resident suffered hypothermia after they were caught in a snowstorm while hillwalking in Japan’s Hokkaido region.

The dead man, named by Japanese media outlet Hokkaido News as Pang Kam-ho, 37, was part of a group of three Hongkongers walking on Mount Tokachi who became separated in the storm as they made their descent on Wednesday.

One of the men managed to take refuge in a mountainside hut and called police in nearby Asahikawa at about 12.40pm. He told officers he had become separated from his friends and had lost contact with them after the weather worsened.

The police alerted a mountain rescue team, which found the missing men at around 5pm on Thursday. One was pronounced dead at the scene, and the other, 35, had minor injuries and hypothermia, Hokkaido media outlet NHK said.

Location: Mount Tokachi, Shirogane, Biei, Kamikawa District, Hokkaido 071-0235, Japan

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