Japanese Team Defends Everest Actions

TOKYO — A Japanese team that scaled Mt. Everest denied Monday that it refused to help Indian climbers who died last month during a blizzard that killed at least eight climbers.

Team leader Katsutoshi Ikebe called the allegations “groundless” in a news conference in Fukuoka, Japan. He said his team had offered “as much help as possible” to the Indian mountaineers. An earlier news release said they sent a Sherpa guide to help.

An advisor to the Indo-Tibetan border police has said that two of the three Indian mountaineers caught in the blizzard could have survived had the Japanese team stopped to help on its May 11 climb.