ISLAMABAD, July 20: Two Italian climbers stranded on Nanga Parbat after their companion fell and died, made contact by a satellite telephone on Sunday to say they are out of danger, ANSA news agency said.

“We are out of the danger zone and we are doing well and coming back down,” Walter Nones and Simon Kehrer told reporters in Italy by telephone from Nanga Parbat peak. “Tomorrow morning we will begin our descent, we have skis,” they said.

Karl Unterkircher died while trying to scale the world’s ninth highest mountain, leaving Nones and Kehrer stranded on the peak.

A rescue helicopter spotted the two on Saturday after they made a distress call on Wednesday by satellite phone, notifying their 38-year-old companion’s death.

Unterkircher fell into a deep crack on the surface of a glacier while climbing the peak at 7,000 metres above sea level.—AFP