A search for a Russian climber stranded on Kyrgystan’s highest mountain has been suspended indefinitely due to severe weather conditions after another climber died trying to rescue her, the Central Asian country’s authorities said on Saturday.
Natalia Nagovitsyna — whose husband died on a different mountain four years ago — broke her leg while climbing the 24,406-foot Victory Peak while she was at an altitude of around 23,000 feet, and has been stranded in the mountains for nearly two weeks. By comparison, Mount Everest, the world’s tallest peak, is 29,032 feet.
An Italian climber, Luca Sinigaglia, died on August 15 trying to save her.
Italian rescuers went to the scene to try to recover his body using a helicopter, according to the Italian foreign ministry.
The operation launched to rescue Nagovitsyna, who turned 48 on August 20 according to Russian media, has so far been unsuccessful.
A rescue helicopter crashed in the mountains and a group of climbers had to stop their ascent when their leader becoming seriously ill, according to Kyrgyz authorities.
On Saturday, “weather conditions deteriorated sharply, so all rescue operations have been suspended”, the spokesman for the Kyrgyz emergency situations ministry, Adil Chargynov, told Russian news agency Ria Novosti.
A drone that flew over Nagovitsyna’s location confirmed she was alive as of Tuesday, The Times reported. but there was no sign of life when the drone flew over the same area on Thursday.
Temperatures are currently hovering around -22 Fahrenheit at night at the summit of Victory Peak, accompanied by gusts of wind and snowstorms, according to a source at the ministry quoted by Russian news agency TASS.
According to Chargynov, “all climbers, all experts share the view that she is unfortunately no longer alive”.
“We know where she is. But it’s impossible to get there,” Dmitry Grekov, head of the Victory Peak base camp, told TASS.
According to him, “no one has ever been evacuated” from such an altitude of the mountain. “It’s impossible to do it manually, only by helicopter, and we don’t have such helicopters in Kyrgyzstan.”
Victory Peak, also called Jengish Chokusu, is the highest mountain in the Tian Shan mountain range and is located on the China–Kyrgyzstan border.
An aerial view taken from a commercial plane shows Tian Shan Range in Kyrgyzstan on April 29, 2021. / Credit: Emin Sansar/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
Natalia Nagovitsyna’s husband Sergei died of a stroke in 2021 while climbing Khan Tengri (23,028 feet), the highest peak in Kazakhstan, also in Central Asia, Russian media reported. The Daily Mail reported Nagovitsyna made headlines at the time for refusing to leave her husband on the mountain after his stroke.
Earlier this month, a Chinese climber died after she was hit by falling rocks on K2, the world’s second-highest peak. In July, German mountaineer and Olympic gold medalist, Laura Dahlmeier, died while attempting to climb another peak in the region.
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