Volunteers Search Mount Fuji For Missing Hiker
PORTAGE (WWJ/AP) - An online message says volunteer hikers have ascended Japan's Mount Fuji in search of a missing Michigan businessman.
The update was left Wednesday on the "Please pray for Matt Johnson" Facebook page.
The Consulate General of Japan in Detroit said Johnson was last seen Jan. 13, and his car was later found parked at Mount Fuji.
The message left by Johnson's sister says two volunteer climbers "made it up to the 5th station ... and camped overnight." It says they were planning to climb to the top and asks readers to "pray for a miracle."
The 33-year-old from the Kalamazoo suburb of Portage is a software engineer for Eaton Corp. The company said Johnson departed for a business trip to Japan on January 8.
Mount Fuji is treacherous in wintertime. Japanese police say another person is missing and a third has died on the 12,388-foot snow- and ice-covered peak this winter.
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