Nearly €50,000 raised to fund search for missing climbers in Kyrgyzstan

August 10, Pozirk. The search for two missing Belarusians and a Lithuanian in the mountains near Kyrgyzstan’s border with China continued today after a fundraiser collected €49,000 to purchase specialized equipment, volunteers said.

The base camp is located about six kilometers from the area where the group could have set up a camp, a stretch that search teams have yet to properly survey.

Rescuers used a drone to inspect the ridge’s side slopes at altitudes of up to 5,000 meters, but found no signs of the group. However, a heavy snowfall, which is complicating search operations, forced them to call off the operation and return to base camp.

The funds raised so far will cover transportation, fuel, a generator, batteries and trips to the border zone. Once weather improves, donated funds will be used to finance helicopter flights, which are expected to account for the largest share of the operation’s costs.

Volunteers are also looking for climbers who are acclimatized and have valid border passes to enter the area, as it takes ten business days to process a new pass.

Experienced Belarusian climbers Mikałaj Svirydaŭ and Maksim Palanski, as well as Lithuanian Sergejus Rubcovas, reached the peak of the Kurumdy Mountain, at 6,613 meters (21,699 feet), on August 1. The following day, contact with the men was lost, and they did not come to a designated point on August 4 where a vehicle was waiting for them.

Because Kurumdy Mountain sits directly on the frontier between Kyrgyzstan and China, satellite phone positioning failed and cellular tracking only came in fragments via a Chinese operator, leaving rescue teams with no specific coordinates and forcing them to sweep the entire mountain route.

Relatives and friends have initiated a public fundraising campaign to cover additional costs for a specialized high-altitude rescue team and helicopter support.

Kurumdy Mountain is situated in the Trans-Alay Range of the Pamir Mountains. With a reputation for extreme technical difficulty, dangerously loose rock, rotten summit cornices and severe isolation, it has seen very few successful ascents.