BOCA DEL RIO, Mexico - Officials say an American climber has died on Mexico's tallest mountain after slipping on an icy slope and falling nearly 300 feet.
The 25-year-old climber was scaling the Pico de Orizaba, which straddles the states of Puebla and Veracruz, when he and three companions fell around 1 p.m. at a height of around 15,000 feet.
Ricardo Maza Limon is head of civil protection emergency services for Veracruz state. Maza said the dead man and his three injured companions were rescued by helicopter from a point about 12,000 feet up the 18,941-foot peak. He said the three injured climbers fell around 90 feet and were only lightly hurt.