KIM HONG-BIN GONE MISSING

[Anchor Lead]

Yesterday we introduced Korean mountain-climber Kim Hong-bin, the first disabled person to ascend all 14 of the highest Himalayan peaks. Today we have sad news about Kim going missing while descending the final peak. Here is more.

[Pkg]

Broad Peak located in Kashmir, Pakistan, 8047 meters above sea level. It is one of the 14 highest peaks of the Himalayas, each taller than 8,000 meters. On Sunday, Korean climber Kim Hong-bin, who has no fingers, ascended Broad Peak, thus conquering all 14 of the highest peaks. He’s the world’s first disabled person to achieve the feat. However, during his descent, Kim got into an accident and sent out a distress call. He was found by Russian rescuers. Kim waited for help alone for more than ten hours. Just when a rescue worker was descending to help Kim, the climber fell.

[Soundbite] (Russian rescue team) : "The rope was too loose. I went down, but he was already gone. I couldn’t see how he gone."

The Russian rescue team says Kim fell on a slope facing China, not a crevasse as was initially presumed.

[Soundbite] (Russian rescue team) : "I don’t think it’s a crevasse. It’s a cliff. It faces China. (Okay.)"

The Korean government has requested China and Pakistan dispatch rescue teams and helicopters to the site to find Kim. Officials from Seoul's foreign ministry will also be sent to the area soon. Kim lost all ten of his fingers due to frostbite while ascending Mount McKinley, the tallest mountain in North America, in 1991. But thanks to his passion for climbing, he became the first disabled person to conquer the highest peaks on the seven continents.