Authorities in northern Lai Chau Province said on Sunday night that a 34-year-old man from Ho Chi Minh City had died after suffering a cold from rains while climbing the Pu Si Lung peak. 

L.M.K., 34, from Ho Chi Minh City was among a group of ten accompanied by two guides starting to climb the peak in Lai Chau’s Muong Te District on April 30.

The 12 climbers registered their temporary residency at the police station of Pa Ve Su Commune and informed their itinerary to the Pa Ve Su Border Guard Station at around 12:00 pm on the same day.

At around 6:00 am Sunday, the local functional forces received the report from the climber team that K. had died.

According to the team, it rained heavily during the conquest of the Pu Si Lung peak.

K. was soaked in the rain and later showed signs of fatigue before succumbing to a cold. 

“Immediately after receiving the report, we instructed the Pa Ve Su Border Guard Station, the commune’s authorities, and the Muong Te police to set up a task force of 20 people to go to the location of the mountaineering team,” said Kieu Hai Nam, deputy chairman of Muong Te District.

According to Nam, it took about eight to nine hours to walk to the location in question.

By 4:30 pm on Sunday, the rescuers had arrived at the scene to take K.’s body home.

It was expected that the rescue group would return to Pa Ve Su Commune’s center with the body by 10:00 pm on the same day.

“The border guard officers managed to contact K.’s family for his body repatriation,” Nam said.

The deputy chairman added that local authorities directed its social affairs division to provide K.’s family with initial support and assigned police officers to work with the other 11 members and guides in the team to clarify the cause of the incident.

The Pu Si Lung peak is located in the border commune of Pa Ve Su in Muong Te at an altitude of 3,083 meters and a top-pick destination favored by adventurous climbers in Vietnam recently.

It often takes about ten hours on foot through an arduous path in extreme weather to arrive at the peak.