Updated

Mexican officials say they will mount a joint state, federal and municipal effort to recover the mummified bodies of two climbers from Mexico's highest mountain.

The federal Interior Department said Tuesday that the multi-agency team will wait for clear weather to ascend the Pico de Orizaba volcano.

It warned volunteers not to risk their safety on the steeply-inclined mountain face where the two bodies were found last week.

The two bodies are encased in ice and snow near the peak of 18,406-foot (5,610-meter) volcano and appear decades old.

A survivor of a 1959 avalanche in which three fellow climbers disappeared says he's sure the bodies are those of his colleagues.

Luis Espinosa, 78, said Friday that the bodies' location matches where the climbers were lost.