Only a few weeks after the disappearance of Australian Scott McKay in the ski resort of Niseko, an accident appears to have befallen another group of foreigners in Hokkaido. The Mainichi reports (Japanese) in the Daisetsuzan Kurodake mountain area. At around 4:45pm, a cable car worker reported that a group of six foreigners who had gone up the 1,984m peak for skiing and snowboarding had not returned. A police helicopter spotted some lights midway up the mountain at around 6:00pm but could not make out any individuals. Darkness forced the search to be called off and it will resume first thing in the morning. The missing group consists of four men and two women: a couple from New Zealand an Australian girl and three men from Britain, the US and the Netherlands. They were part of a larger group of 11 who had been spending the day on the mountain, making several trips up and down. It seems they split into two groups and only the party of five made it safely back. Police don't believe they were carrying any food or water. Separately, police also received a report that a Japanese guide and his two foreign customers, identified as a South African man and a girl, were missing which raised suspicions that something similar might have happened to that group. However, police could not find the guide's car in any local car parks so it remains unclear whether they are on the mountain or not. The search will also look for them at first light.
