Rescued climber in coma

A BRITISH climber was in a deep coma with only a 50-50 chance of survival yesterday after being airlifted 'clinically dead' from Mont Blanc.

The man, who has not been named, was with three companions climbing the mountain in the French Alps when violent snowstorms stranded them on the peak for 24 hours. Doctors at a hospital in Chamonix fought for more than six hours to save the 41- year-old man.

Dr Bernard Mancini, who led the surgical team, told ITN: 'His heart had stopped but the brain was preserved by the cold.'

One other climber was detained in hospital with frostbite but the others were discharged after treatment.