US man travels miles for help after 400-ft fall in deadly accident

A Seattle man travelled more than 60 miles to find help after falling 400ft off a mountain in an accident that killed his three companions.

Authories say the protective equipment used by the group failed on Saturday in the northern Cascade mountain range, in an area called the Early Winter Spires. Officials say the group of four mountain climbers were abseiling down a steep gully after deciding to turn back due to an incoming storm.

Connected to each other by ropes, the group fell about 200ft (60m) through the air, before tumbling another 200ft over rocks, dirt and snow.

The sole surviving climber is currently in hospital, where he is being treated for internal bleeding and a traumatic brain injury.

The three men who died were identified by the Okanagan County Sheriff's Department on Tuesday.

Vishnu Irigireddy, 48, Tim Nguyen, 63, and Oleksander Martynenko, 36, were all from the Seattle area, according to the sheriff.

The survivor, who was identified as a 38-year-old man from Seattle, hiked out and drove west across the mountains about 60 miles until he found a payphone to call for help.

Undersheriff Dave Yarnell told Climbing magazine that the man may have been unfamiliar with the area. The town of Mazama is only about 15 miles to the east of the mountain.

"He took the long route," Yarnell said on Monday. "He spent at least an hour or more driving over the Cascade mountain range."

"He didn't realize he had as significant of internal injuries as he did," he said, adding that the man initially refused medical attention for himself.

The three bodies of his fellow climbers had to be recovered by helicopter, due to the rough terrain.

A preliminary investigation found that a piece of protective gear called a piton was still attached to their rope, indicating that it probably ripped out of the rock wall, causing the fall.

"The presumed cause of the accident is an anchor failure while rappelling [abseiling]," the sheriff's office said.