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Female Climber Missing in the Himalayas

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  • Published Jul 12, 2009 12:05 pm KST
  • Updated Jul 12, 2009 12:05 pm KST

Korean mountain climber Ko Mi-young, 41, went missing while descending from a Himalayan peak Saturday, according her sportswear sponsor.

"Ko was confirmed to have fallen off the cliff by members of her expedition team," said a spokesman of Kolon Sports. "We have asked the Pakistani government to conduct a rescue operation, while holding a meeting on how to deal the missing."

The accident took place while Ko was on Nanga Parbat, the ninth highest peak in the Himalayas.

"Ko was descending after taking a rest at Camp 4," the spokesman said. "Members witnessed she was falling from a level 6,200 meters high."

This was the 11th of the 14 Himalayan peaks Ko had climbed. The ranges of the Himalayas rise up to 8,000 meters above sea level.

Ko started her career at the mountain climbing school run by Kolon Sports in 1991. She has since scaled Drifica, a 6,047-meter high mountain in Pakistan and the 8,201-meter high Cho Oyu in the Himalayas. In May 2007, Ko successfully reached the top of the highest peak of the range, the 8,848-meter high Mt. Everest.

This year, she climbed three peaks - Makalu on May 1, Kangchenjunga on May 18 and Dhaulagiri on June 8.

Meanwhile, her climbing partner Oh Eun-sun, 43, successfully climbed the Nanga Parbat, making it her 12th successful climb of the Himalayan peaks. Oh is tied in the number of successful climbs with the Spanish Edurne Pasaban, 36, and Australia's Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner, 38.