Italian climbers spotted on Pakistan's deadly peak

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - A rescue helicopter has spotted two Italian mountaineers stranded on one of the world's deadliest peaks in northern Pakistan, the Italian embassy said on Saturday.

The two climbers -- Simon Kehrer and Walter Nones -- had been stranded on Nanga Parbat, also known as Killer Mountain, since early this week when their colleague, Karl Unterkircher, fell into a crevasse and died.

"They have been spotted. They have also been reached with some equipment, food and other things. We dropped them a bag with some equipment," Italian embassy spokesman Oddo Sergio told Reuters.

However, he said bad weather and the sharp incline were hampering efforts to rescue them.

"Weather conditions are quite bad over there, quite uncomfortable. So helicopters are not able to get close to them," he said. "They are on a wall of the mountain. It's a spot where helicopter is not able to get them. It's too high and too vertical," he added.

Nanga Parbat is the world's ninth-highest peak. Its name in the Urdu language means Naked Mountain.

The 26,660 feet high peak at the western end of the Himalayas was first conquered by German Buhl, of Germany, in 1953 after 31 people died attempting it.

Since then more have died on its slopes and fewer people try to climb it because it is regarded as technically one of the most difficult mountains to climb.

(Reporting by Zeeshan Haider; Editing by Alex Richardson)