A group of skiers and snowboarders, including two New Zealanders, have been stranded overnight in freezing conditions on a mountain in Japan according to local media.
It is being reported that the group was stuck on remote Mount Kurodake in central Hokkaido after they failed to descend from the mountain via ropeway before nightfall.
Media outlets in Japan have quoted local authorities who say 11 snowboarders had gone up the mountain on a cable car at around 9am local time on Tuesday.
They then split into three groups and only five people managed to get back down the mountain that night.
Six others, including a man and a woman from New Zealand, were forced to stay on the mountain.
Mount Kurodake is almost 2km above sea level at its peak.
The group also included a man from Australia, as well as male skiers from the Netherlands, America and England.
A police helicopter failed to locate the group despite seeing several lights about 1km from the boarding point of the ropeway at around 6pm Tuesday.
The Yomiuri Shinbun said snow had been falling on the mountain since about 5pm. Visibility was poor and the temperature would drop to about -5C, the paper said.
Police will resume their search for the stranded group this morning.
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