Two people have died while climbing Africa's highest mountain, Mount Kilimanjaro, in an attempt to welcome in the new millennium.

The National Parks department in Tanzania, where the mountain lies, said they were an American woman and a German man.

Autopsies will be carried out shortly.

The department said thirty-three other climbers suffering from altitude sickness, skin rashes, headaches and stomach upsets had to be rescued from the mountain.

About one-thousand climbers from all over the world took part in the millennium climb which started on New Year's Eve.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service