Egyptian filmmaker found dead after Sinai snowstorm

An Egyptian filmmaker who went hiking in south Sinai five days ago was found dead on Wednesday, after a blizzard stranded him and a group of hikers in Egypt's mountainous area of Saint Catherine.

Mohammad Ramadan, the film maker, was among seven hikers who went missing on Saturday. Three of the team– Khaled el-Sebaei, Hagar Shalaby and Ahmed Adel- Azim - were found on Monday frozen to death in the mountains.

Ramadan’s body was discovered early Wednesday, just 400 meters from where the three hikers were found, Egyptian news website Ahram Online reported.

Only four hikers were rescued by Bedouin guides familiar with the terrain, the website said.

The surviving hikers -Yosra Mounir, Maha el-Aswad, Ihab Qotb and Mahmoud Farouk - were air lifted to the Saint Catherine hospital by an army helicopter.

Pleas from the friends and families of the missing hikers spread through Egypt over the past few days, urging authorities to rescue them.

Images of the hikers have been circulated on social media since Tuesday night.

Egyptian Army spokesman, Colonel Ahmed Mohamed Ali, was cited by state news agency MENA as saying that weather conditions, which had reached -11C, made the rescue efforts difficult.

Saint Catherine is at the foot of Mount Sinai and is home to the Saint Catherine’s Monastery. Hiking in the mountainous region is usually done during the summer due to unstable weather conditions in the winter.