Two Killed Climbing Cape Town’s Table Mountain

Table Mountain, as seen from afar. Photo: Courtesy of Neville Nel/Flickr

Per a report by the BBC, the bodies of a Japanese tourist and his local guide have been recovered from Cape Town, South Africa's Table Mountain after they died from a fall while scaling the mountain on Monday.

The accident, and subsequent rescue attempts, ultimately left hundreds of tourists stranded atop Table Mountain. 

According to the report, the Table Mountain Cableway–which ferries thousands of people up-and-down the mountain every day–was out of order for about four hours as rescuers rappelled from it to attempt to save the climbers. While they were unsuccessful in saving the deceased Japanese tourist and his guide, the rescue crews were able to save a third, unidentified climbing partner. 

The rescue crews were able to rescue the third climber late Monday night, at which point the Cableway service was able to resume, allowing some 500 tourists who had been trapped atop the mountain to finally get down.

After an initial unsuccessful helicopter rescue, a team of about 30 eventually found the bodies of the deceased climbers just after first light Tuesday morning via the cable car system. 

An investigation surrounding the specifics of the deaths is underway, but local media reports no ropes had broken.