Landslide on Kilimanjaro - 3 Killed

Word of Mouth -- phone report from Appalachian Mountain Club

[TyroneSlothrop]

There has been a landslide on Mt. Kilmanjaro. Two members of one tour group have been killed. One member of a second group was also killed. There have been other injuries.

[TyroneSlothrop]

I received this report because my sister is on the expedition with her husband. She was not injured. He was injured in the shoulder, but he will be OK, thank goodness. They have been evacuated to Nairobi. The news has not crossed any wire services that I can see, so it is breaking first on Free Republic.

[pissant]

Good to hear that your relatives are OK.

I think Hemmingway wrote a good short story about Kilimanjaro.

[Bahbah]

You are new here so everything will have to be confirmed.

[Boundless]

> I think Hemmingway wrote a good short story about Kilimanjaro.

So did Monty Python.

So which of the Twin Peaks of Kilimanjaro did this happen on?

[RightWhale]

What is doing that? Is the material softening as the ice and permafrost melt up there?

[TyroneSlothrop]

Thanks for finding this article.

[TyroneSlothrop]

Thanks for your thoughts

[TyroneSlothrop]

I've been reading FR for quite a few years. Just signed up in order to post this.

[pissant]

I missed Monty Python's version. drats.

[Bahbah]

Thanks. I am sorry for the injured and those lost. I don't climb, but I have some friend who do. Some have come close to losing their lives.

[TyroneSlothrop]

When we heard, it was shock with immediate relief. By the way, I see that the moderator removed post #6. It must have violated a rule by posting an entire article. However, I think that we should have a link to the news article, to validate the veracity of my post for any late readers. So, if it's ok:

http://www.fox23news.com/news/world/story.aspx?content_id=15C4CB62-9940-4278-B77C-2215426B18E6

[Bahbah]

Links work. Where are you from?

[TyroneSlothrop]

Philadelphia. My brother-in-law works for the AMC (Appalachian Mountain Club) in the White Mountains of New Hampshire.

[NormsRevenge]

Rock fall on Mount Kilimanjaro kills three American climbers

http://www.bakersfield.com/state_wire/story/5809399p-5825597c.html

SUKHDEV CHHATBAR, Associated Press Writer

MOUNT KILIMANJARO NATIONAL PARK, Tanzania (AP) - Rocks and boulders tumbled down Mount Kilimanjaro and crashed into tents where tourists were sleeping, killing three American climbers and seriously injuring two, officials said Thursday.

The climbers were on Kilimanjaro's treacherous Western Breach before beginning their final ascent of Africa's highest mountain.

The regional police commander, Mohamed Chico, identified the dead as Kristian Ferguson, 37, of Colorado; Mary Lou Sammis, 58, of California, and Betty Orrik Sapp, 63, of Tennessee.

Some Tanzanian guides were initially reported killed in the Wednesday morning rock fall, but Chico said no Tanzanians have been found among the dead.

He said experts were on the 19,443-foot mountain investigating exactly what caused the slide.

A rescue team finished evacuating more than 50 climbers early Thursday from the Umbwe route and the camp site, near Arrow Glacier at about 15,800 feet between Kibo Peak and Gilman's Point, said James Wakibara, acting spokesman for Mount Kilimanjaro National Park. Climbers on other routes were allowed to continue.

Wakibara said the injured were flown to Nairobi, Kenya, for treatment.

The rock slide hit a large group of climbers from various tours while they were in their tents. They had set out Saturday to ascend Kilimanjaro along its most dangerous route.

There had been a change in the weather at the peak before the rock fall, officials said, without elaborating on how that could have contributed to the accident.

"The possible explanation I hear on this could be earth movement or vibration," Wakibara said. "It has never happened like this in the past."

Warmer temperatures recently had melted some of Mount Kilimanjaro's glaciers, causing them to retreat, which had loosened rocks once held in place by the ice.

Tens of thousands of people climb Mount Kilimanjaro every year.

[propertius]

Kilimanjaro story timings:

AFP 5.16 am
AP 6.16 am
Free Republic 6.23 pm
Reuters 10.37 pm

At least you beat Reuters!

[TyroneSlothrop]

Dear Propertius,

I'm not sure that you are entirely correct, though you are certainly more correct than not. It seems that the story was indeed extant ahead of my post, but I was not 12-13 hours late. At least I don't think so. Perhaps you are a journalist and have direct access to the AP, AFP, and Press Association wires. I do not, so I have to rely on indirect sources.

Here is my reconstruction, relying both on Google News and on my memory of the situation as it unfolded.

Start with this: http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ned=&q=kilimanjaro+accident&ie=UTF-8&scoring=d&sa=N&start=180

The first stories, from Google's after the fact and somewhat imprecise point of view, were:

1. http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=17702006

-- story from The Press Association [looks like they got it from AFP/SA]

Tourists die on Mt Kilimanjaro
04/01/2006 20:26 - (SA) [Note: this is 1:26pm EST on Jan 4th]

Dar Es Salaam - At least three people were killed and five others seriously injured on Wednesday in an accident as they attempted to climb Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, an official said.

2. http://www.mounteverest.net/news.php?id=1361

Accident on Kilimanjaro reported to kill three climbers

04:19 pm EST Jan 04, 2006

A contributor in South Africa just alerted ExplorersWeb that according to News24, AFP and mountain officials, an accident on Kilimanjaro today killed at least two European climbers, and a local porter (find full news article in the links section)


The referenced link is to:

2a. http://www.news24.com/News24/Africa/News/0,,2-11-1447_1858500,00.html

Tourists die on Mt Kilimanjaro
04/01/2006 20:26 - (SA) [This would have made it 1:26pm EST on Jan 4 -- same wire story as above]]
At least three people have died and five others have been seriously injured in an accident as they attempted to climb Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.

My normal best way of checking on AP's breaking stories is to go to:

3. http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/T/TANZANIA_ROCK_SLIDE?SITE=FLTAM&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=customwire.htm

Jan 5, 1:18 AM EST

Rock Slide in Tanzania Kills 3 Climbers

By SUKHDEV CHHATBAR
Associated Press Writer

ARUSHA, Tanzania (AP) -- Rocks and boulders tumbled down Mount Kilimanjaro on Wednesday and crashed into a group of climbers sleeping in tents before their final ascent of Africa's highest mountain. Three foreign climbers and an unknown number of guides were killed.

They were clearly late with this since the other Free Republic posting in the thread can prove that the AP story was available to Fox earlier at:

4. http://www.fox23news.com/news/world/story.aspx?content_id=15C4CB62-9940-4278-B77C-2215426B18E6

This was at: 10:36pm EST Jan 4 on FR

Rock slide from peak of Mount Kilimanjaro kills three foreign climbers

ARUSHA, Tanzania (AP) - Rocks and boulders tumbled down Mount Kilimanjaro on Wednesday...


5. I posted at Jan. 4 9:23PM EST -- or Jan 5 2:23AM GMT

For whatever reasons, Google, Yahoo, et al, were not picking up the AFP story, so it is certainly safe to say that the story hadn't broken in any meaningful sense in the US yet. Therefore, I don't regret my post.

As far as I can see, the timing was approximately:

AFP/SA -- 1:26pm EST on Jan 4th -- with very little propagation

me -- 9:23PM EST on Jan 4th -- 8 hours later

AP -- 10:36pm EST Jan 4 -- or sometime before this -- but not much before

Reuters -- bringing up the rear.

Thanks for this opportunity to procrastinate. I have lots of work to do on a deadline, so it's much more fun to do this instead.

Best regards,

TyroneSlothrop