The relique of a male Japanese climber who was trying to scale Mount Qomolangma, the world highest peak, in 1985 has been found at the height of about 6,500 meters above the sea level near a regular north side route, it was reported here Saturday.

The Tibet Mountaineering Association (TMA) was quoted as saying that the body was found by several helpers of a South Korean mountaineering team on April 15, 2002, when they were advancing to the North Col of Mt. Qomolangma from their camp. The precise spot was on a snow slope, east of the Khumbu Glaciers and several feet away from the North Col.

One of the helpers checked the pockets of the dead climber and found a notebook in which a passport number "MG 8955998" and a date of "June 3, 1985" were taken down. In addition, a knife made in France, a ball pen and a camera were also found. They considered the dead climber as a missing member of the Japanese mountaineering team in 1985.

Zhang Mingxing, the secretary general of the TMA, said so far, the Japanese side has confirmed that the dead climber was from a Japanese mountaineering team in 1985. But the passport number provided by the Japanese side is not in line with that in the notebook. A member of that Japanese mountaineering team will arrive here in the near future to check the identity of the body.

Local experts recalled that the then Japanese mountaineering team bumped into avalanche while conquering the 8848.13-meter peak. The dead team member might fall down to low-altitude areas from higher places and was buried by the snow. Thanks to warmer climate in recent years, snow and ice thawed, resulting in the finding of the relique.

(Xinhua News Agency May 11, 2002)