China finds luggage of missing US climbers

BEIJING, Dec 25 (Reuters) Rescuers have found luggage of two missing veteran US climbers in a remote part of southwest China's Sichuan province, the official Xinhua news agency said today.

Charlie Fowler and Christine Boskoff have not been heard from since November, and did not show up for their return flights home on December 7, the report said.

Ten rescuers found the luggage at the home of a resident in Lamaya while conducting a door-to-door search, Xinhua said.

The town is in a mountainous region close to Tibet, and has no telephones or mobile phone coverage, the report said.

''The villager told the rescuers that the two climbers had hired him as a driver and left the luggage at his home on November 11 for mountain climbing, saying they would be back on November 24,'' it added.

Xinhua quoted Gao Min, deputy secretary-general of the Sichuan Mountaineering Association, as saying the find would help them focus their search.

Reuters DKA GC1159