A 14-year-old boy has been found dead after he attempted to climb a volcano without a guide or thermal clothing.
Paolo Sánchez Carrasco was discovered by a rescue team on Saturday after a missing alert was issued three days earlier.
He is believed to have died of hypothermia at around 15,682 ft above sea level.
Before his death, he posted a selfie video to social media, saying: ‘Turns out it drops to minus two degrees at night up here.
‘And what sucks is, well, I’m gonna freeze my a*se off. I didn’t even bring a sleeping bag, and I’m really far from the shelter.
‘The next one’s way over there, but it’s on the other side of the mountain.’
A woman named Angela said she had been trekking up the same volcano at the same time as Paolo.
She wrote: ‘Just as we were reaching the second pass, the storm hit. We had to camp beside a rock wall.
‘Unfortunately, we were soaked and had no choice but to take shelter in our tent – that’s what stopped us from going any further.’
Paolo is believed to have travelled from Mexico City to Iztaccíhuatl, a dormant volcanic mountain in Mexico located on the border between the State of Mexico and Puebla within Izta-Popo Zoquiapan National Park, on July 12.
The journey is around 90 minutes by car and it is unclear how he got there.
Iztaccíhuatl is Mexico’s third-highest peak at 5,213 metres and is considered a technically challenging climb.
The routes up the mountain involve loose rocks, steep slopes, and areas of ice and snow, as reported by NeedToKnow.
Conditions can change rapidly – even in relatively favourable months like July – with freezing temperatures, strong winds, and sudden drops in visibility due to clouds or fog.
Mountaineering experts and guides recommend climbing Iztaccíhuatl only with proper equipment, including multiple layers of thermal clothing, specialist boots, gloves, hats, navigation tools, and, in many areas, crampons and an ice axe.
They also stress the importance of acclimatising to the altitude and climbing with experienced guides.
The tragedy comes after a young Brazilian woman died after plunging 1000ft down a volcano in Indonesia last month.
Juliana Marins, 26, was trekking up Mount Rinjani, the second largest volcano in Indonesia, when she slipped and fell from a hiking trail early morning on June 21.
The young woman, from Rio de Janeiro, who worked as a publicist and pole dancer, plummeted off the edge of the trail.
An autopsy showed Ms Marins died of ‘blunt force trauma’ to ‘almost all parts of her body,’ that caused massive internal bleeding, according to News.com.au.
The report added that she would have died less than 20 minutes after the bleeding started.
It also ruled out hypothermia, since there were no signs of tissue damage or blackening on her fingers.
Shocking drone footage taken in the wake of the tumble showed an injured Ms Marins cowering in a rocky ravine, having rolled 984ft down the steep hill before coming to a stop.
She was spotted by passing tourists after they heard her screams for help at the weekend.
Ms Martins was alive after her fall but was unable to climb back up the treacherous slopes after suffering injuries.
The stricken hiker also had no food, water or access to shelter.
The tourists immediately notified authorities, and rescue teams were dispatched to the volcano to locate and save the dancer.
When search teams finally reached her on June 24, she was dead and had plummeted nearly 2,000 feet from where she first fell.
Experts believe Ms Marins may have fallen a second time, leading to the fatal injuries.