Three rock climbers plunge to their death after falling 400ft down ravine as one fights for life

Three rock climbers died with another suffering a "traumatic" injury after they plunged down a deep ravine.

The group of climbers are understood to have fallen following an "anchor failure," where equipment degradation, or improper anchor building into the rock results in a fall. Washington state's Okanogan County Sheriff's Office (OCSO) officials said in a news release shared on said they had been descending a steep gully in the North Early Winters Spire part area of North Cascades National Park at about 11:30am on Sunday. Volunteers responded and examined the area for . Officials pronounced three of the climbers dead at the scene of the fall. Police said the victims were aged 36, 47 and 63. Their identities have not been shared as of Tuesday afternoon.

The OCSO said in its Facebook statement that the fourth member of the party "self-extricated" and contacted law enforcement. Police later shared an image of the helicopter rescue team hovering around the location in its news update.

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"Snohomish County Helicopter Rescue Team assisted in extricating the deceased members of the party from the technical, mountainous terrain," the sheriff's office said. "The presumed cause of the accident is an anchor failure while rappelling, with more investigation still ongoing.

"The Okanogan County Sheriff’s Office would like to thank the SAR volunteers and Snohomish County for assisting in this tragic incident. Our thoughts are with the family members and friends of those involved."

According to , OCSO undersheriff David Yarnell claimed the group fell some 400ft. He added the surviving member of the team had "sustained internal bleeding and a traumatic brain injury."

He continued: "He walked back to the trailhead just east of Washington Pass and drove to Newhalem, where he used a pay phone to call 911. He didn’t realise he had as significant of internal injuries as he did."

The surviving climber was taken to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle for treatment. The group had started their descent "after noticing a storm coming in", Yarnell added.

He added the whole group had been tied to the same anchor point, something he said was not the best method to keep everyone safe.

Cristina Woodworth, the head of the sheriff's search and rescue team, added that it appeared as though the anchor point had "ripped out of the rock".

"It seems like they fell through pretty steep vertical terrain for about 200 feet and then about 200 more feet of kind of tumbling, moderate terrain," she told the outlet.

"Ms Woodworth added the surviving climber had taken "a number of hours to self-extricate" from the fall site and return back to his vehicle.