Climber presumed dead after falling through weak ice bridge in Alaska

A climber from Japan is presumed dead following a fall into a crevasse near Mount Hunter in Alaska's Denali National Park and Preserve, officials said.

The park, in a statement, said a 43-year-old climber from Kanagawa, Japan, was unroped from his teammates when he fell through a weak ice bridge near their camp at approximately 8,000 feet on the southeast fork of the Kahiltna Glacier.

Mountaineering rangers with the park were notified of the fall, at the base of Mount Hunter's North Buttress, late Tuesday, the statement said. A ranger rappelled into the crevasse as far as possible and found that the ice bridge collapse had filled the crevasse with a large volume of snow and ice, the statement said.