Rescue underway for military personnel on Colorado peak

 











Rangers at Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado have been sent to rescue military personnel who experienced difficulties during a training exercise on Longs Peak, the National Park Service said on Friday.
"Park rangers are planning evacuation efforts from the summit of Longs Peak via helicopter, weather and conditions permitting," Park spokesperson Kyle Patterson said in an emailed response to Reuters. The personnel are affiliated with Fort Carson, an Army installation near Colorado Springs.
Colorado National Guard spokesman Major Darin Overstreet said most personnel at Fort Carson are with the U.S. Army, but he could not confirm if all the members of the military on Longs Peak were from the Army. They are not with the Colorado National Guard, he said.
Longs Peak is about 140 miles (225 km) northwest of Denver.
Patterson said that late on Thursday, Rocky Mountain National Park officials were notified that the group was on a mountaineering route on Longs Peak and that a few members reported having some degree of distress and difficulty.
The Colorado Division of Fire Prevention and Control said in a message on Twitter that 10 members of the military were on the peak and the agency had sent an aircraft to assist in the "search and rescue" operation.
A spokeswoman for the division did not immediately return a call or email seeking comment.
Patterson said that no one was missing from the group. (Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis in Los Angeles; Editing by Chris Reese, Toni Reinhold)





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