Rescuers in Kyrgyzstan halt search for missing Belarusian climber
September 16, Pozirk. Rescuers have not found the body of 60-year-old Belarusian climber Mikałaj Svirydaŭ, who went missing in early August after climbing Kurumdy Mountain in Kyrgyzstan near the Chinese border, Aleksandr Smirnov, who headed the rescue operation, said.
The team is “wrapping up its work and leaving the mountain” after snowfall began. “We do not plan to resume the search,” Smirnov said in a Facebook post.
“Over the past month and a half, we’ve used, it seems, everything we could,” he noted. “Drones capable of operating at altitudes of up to 7,000 meters, satellite imagery, snowpack analysis and about 100 people from six countries who reviewed the images, generated theories, tested them and reviewed them again.”
“It’s highly likely that he’s buried under avalanche debris or in crevasses further down the slope. It’s impossible to see this from the air. Sending people to search there is too dangerous,” Smirnov said.
The bodies of the two other climbers were found in late August.
Svirydaŭ and his fellow climbers, Belarusian Maksim Palanski and Lithuanian Sergejus Rubcovas, reached the summit of Kurumdy Mountain, at 6,613 meters (21,699 feet), on August 1.
The following day, they reported that they were preparing to begin their descent to base camp. Contact with the men was lost after that call, and they failed to reach a designated point on August 4, where a vehicle was waiting for them.
Because the mountain lies directly on the frontier between Kyrgyzstan and China, satellite-phone positioning failed, while cellular tracking was available only intermittently through a Chinese operator. This left rescue teams without specific coordinates and forced them to search the entire route.
Kurumdy Mountain is situated in the Trans-Alay Range of the Pamir Mountains. Known for its extreme technical difficulty, loose rock, unstable summit cornices and isolation, it has seen very few successful ascents.
Volunteers raised €70,000 in public donations for the search and rescue operation.
Families identify bodies of two climbers missing in Kyrgyzstan
August 27, Pozirk. Family members have identified the bodies of Belarusian climber Maksim Palanski, 43, and his Lithuanian climbing partner Sergejus Rubcovas, 37, who went missing earlier this month after ascending Kurumdy Mountain in Kyrgyzstan near the Chinese border, 24.kg …
