China News Service, October 28 — According to foreign media reports, New Zealand police said on Monday (28th) that a Japanese mountaineer and his New Zealand companion died after being trapped in a snow cave on Mount Taranaki in New Zealand for two nights.
New Zealand police have confirmed the identities of both individuals. The Japanese mountaineer is named Hiroki Ogawa, 31 years old, a geoscience scientist studying in New Zealand. The other is Nicole Sutton, 29, from Wellington, New Zealand.
Sutton’s father said at a press conference where searchers confirmed the pair's deaths that he had received a text message from his daughter Nicole Sutton on Sunday night (27th). In the message, Nicole told her father that she might not be able to hold on until the rescuers arrived.
Sutton’s father also said that Hiroki Ogawa was a very special man who took good care of his daughter Nicole. The two were in a relationship and planning to get married.
It is reported that although Hiroki Ogawa and Nicole were able to communicate with the outside world via text messages, it was very difficult for rescuers to pinpoint their exact location, and the bad weather at the time made it impossible to send a helicopter for a while.
Rescuers had been trying to reach the two trapped mountaineers since Saturday (26th), and only found them on the morning of the 28th. By then, Hiroki Ogawa had already died. Nicole lost consciousness on the way back and passed away.