Rough weather hampers rescue of climbers in Himalayas

A Pakistani official says rescuers are set to airlift two European mountain climbers stuck on a Himalayan peak but rough weather is hampering their efforts.

Karrar Haidri, a top official of the Pakistan Alpine Federation, says if the weather allows Saturday, four volunteers from a Polish expedition will be airlifted to the base camp of Pakistan's Nanga Parbat mountain.

He says the volunteers will then climb to 7,000 meters (22,965 feet) above sea level to rescue Tomasz Mackiewicz of Poland and Elisabeth Revol of France. Mackiewicz reportedly is suffering from snow blindness and altitude sickness.

Haidri says weather at present is bad, with the temperature at minus 60 degrees Celsius at the height where the climbers are stuck.

The 8,126-meter- (26,660-foot) Nanga Parbat is ninth-highest in the world.