EVEREST CLIMB

Press, Volume XCV, Issue 28263, 29 April 1957, Page 9

EVEREST CLIMB

Russians Said To Have Died (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 8 p.m.) LONDON, April 27. Forty Russians who tried to climb Mount Everest in secret six months before the successful British climb all perished, according to reports published in Warsaw quoted by the “News Chronicle.” Sir John Hunt, whose expedition reached the top in 1953, believed that there was- some truth in the reports. The Russian expedition, 35 mountaineers five scientists, was sent on the direct order of Stalin, said the Polish mountaineer Pawlowski in the newspaper “Szandar Mlodych.” Their mission was “to plant the flag of peace’’ on top of the world’s highest mountain as a dramatic propaganda point in the Stalin peace offensive. The climbers reached 26,400 ft. They were in constant radio touch with Moscow. The last message received from them, in December, 1952, promised that they would be at the top of the 29,002 ft mountain in two days. Then there was silence. It was presumed the climbers were overwhelmed by an avalanche. Sir John Hunt said yesterday: “While we were doing training on Everest in April, 1953, a strange plane flew overhead. “It came from the north at 15,000 ft, circled round for a while, then zoomed bark to the north,” he said. “We vaguely wondered whether it was a Russian plane. We had heard that Russians had set off from the north, on the Tibet side of Everest, in 1952. “I think that there •is some truth in the story. But I don’t believe that 40 Russians reached a height of 26,400 ft. “It is more likely that an advance team of six men tried to reach the top and disappeared, as was reported in Italian and Swedish newspapers in 1953. “We had always thought that any attempt on Everest from the north was asking for disaster. The Swiss knew that, and their expedition tried from the south. “I went to Moscow in 1954 to tell the story of our climb. A group of Russian climbers told me then that Russia did not send an expedition/ to Everest.”

Prisoners Retaken At Port Moresby PORT MORESBY. April 28. An escaped convict, Kita Tunguan, surrendered last night, and police later recaptured a second escaper. Keana Keponaka. A third prisoner. Ame Aite, escaped in a hail of bullets after a police chase near the Moresby suburb of Eight Mile early this morning.