One of two bodies found last week has been identified as one of four climbers missing for eight months on Mount Rainier, leaving one climber still unaccounted for from disappearances during snowstorms last January.
The body of Mark Vucich, 37, of Agoura Hills, Calif. was found Aug. 6. Michelle Trojanowski, 30, of Atlanta, Ga., who disappeared with Vucich while they were planning to camp on the Muir Snowfield for two days and return on Jan. 15, is one of the latest two bodies to be found, officials said Monday.
Authorities believe the body of a male discovered last week, still unidentified, also was lost in the storm that pounded the mountain.
Mount Rainier National Park officials said a body was spotted last Thursday during routine helicopter operations on the edge of a crevasse at the mountain's 8,200-feet level, near the top of Paradise Glacier. Rangers quickly located a second body nearby, and both were taken by helicopter and ambulance Friday afternoon to the Pierce County medical examiner in Tacoma to be identified and for autopsies to determine the causes of their deaths.
Searchers scoured the mountainside Saturday but didn't locate anyone else, officials said.
The other climbers who officials believe died are Sork Yang, 52, of Springfield, Ore., and Seol Hee Jin, from South Korea.
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