CHENGDU: Rescuers searching for a missing Australian climber have found a body believed to be that of a Japanese mountaineer who disappeared 26 years ago in Southwest China's Sichuan Province, the provincial mountaineering association said yesterday.

Villagers reported the discovery on Mount Gongga to rescuers who are searching for Andrew Clem Lindenmayer, 47, who was reported missing in the area last month.

In May 1981, a 12-member mountaineering team from Hokkaido, Japan, was attempting to scale Mount Gongga, when eight members disappeared after falling from an area 7,450 meters above sea level.