Kiwi Alpinist Dies in Croatia

The Croatian Mountain Rescue Service (HGSS) has reported that a 25 year-old New Zealand Alpinist has died near Omis on the Dalmatian Coast in Croatia on Sunday night.

At around 19:00 HGSS received a call for help from two Alpinists who had set off earlier in the day in the direction of Ilinac rock. Upon receiving the call for help HGSS sent out 20 rescuers to the scene, despite the dark and the rain they managed to find an injured female Finnish national half way up the 250 meter rock. Soon after, 50 meters below, the rescuers found her climbing companion, Kiwi Yannick Branson, who had fallen to his death, reported newspaper Slobodna Dalmacija.

It is not the first time that an Alpinist has been killed on Ilinac rock, five years ago in the exact place, a 27-year-old Polish Alpinist was killed.