Britons saved on mountain after sending text to London

Two British climbers stranded on Europe's highest mountain were saved today after texting a friend hundreds of miles away in London.

A rescue operation was launched on Mont Blanc after the two climbers, who have not been named, were forced to spend the night at 11,000 feet in sub-zero temperatures after bad weather prevented them returning to their base camp.

A series of storms hampered early attempts to find the climbers as rescue helicopters were unable to take off.

The climbers were eventually picked up at the Aiguille Noire de Peuterey crest and flown by helicopter to Courmayeur at the foot of the mountain.

An Italian mountain rescue spokesman in Aosta said: "There was a storm yesterday afternoon and the climbers had to spend the night on the mountain. They could not be rescued until after the weather improved today.

"They raised the alarm by sending an SMS to a friend in London. They are well equipped but no one wants to spend the night at 3,700 metres unless you really have to."

A 32-year-old Russian man was killed on the mountain last weekend. The climber was with three other people near the summit of the mountain when he fell 200 metres to his death. The other members of his group were rescued the following day.