A Mexican search party looking for a frozen body after climbers spotted a frozen skull have stumbled across a second mummified corpse on the country’s highest mountain.
The original skull had been seen just 1,000 feet (310 metres) from the peak of the 5,610-metre Pico de Orizaba on Monday.
But when the 12 local civil protection mountaineers climbed to the top of mountain, which sits a five hour drive from Mexico City and is also known as the Citlaltepetl volcano, they made a second gruesome discovery.
The second body was just 500 feet away (300 metres), and was also frozen and mummified, according to Juan Navarro, mayor of the town of Chalchicomula de Sesma, near the mountain in central Puebla state.
Local officials suspect the bodies are two of three Mexicans who went missing after an avalanche 55 years ago on the mountain, which is popular with climbers.
However, it hasn’t stopped people from Spain and Germany ringing local authorities, in the hope the final resting place of their long-lost relatives may have been discovered.
Pieces of clothing found on both bodies could help identify them, Navarro said.
However, their identities will not be known until the bodies can be removed from the mountainside.
Rescue efforts have so far been hampered by the weather.
‘It was impossible to conduct the rescue this time.
It is hoped the recovery effort will resume at some point today with the help of a helicopter.
The bodies will then be taken to the Puebla state prosecutor’s office to undergo DNA identification tests.
