Climber rescued in Himalayas

(ANSA) - Turin, July 22 - An Italian climber has been rescued in the Himalayas after his climbing partner got him back down to base camp after he fell 500 metres and injured himself.
    Climbing partner Carlalberto Cimenti aka 'Cala' rescued Francesco Cassardo on a makeshift sled on the Gasherbrum VII mountain in Pakistan.
    "It's over. We did it," said Cimenti after Cassardo was taken from base camp to a hospital at Skardu in Gilgit Baltista.
    Cassardo's condition is not as bad as feared, the Italian foreign ministry said. Cassardo is conscious and some fractures have been found, it said.
    More medical exams are being carried out to get a full clinical picture, it said.
    It said he had been 'coptered off the mountain to the Combined Military Hospital in Skardu.