Search continues for three climbers in Kyrgyzstan

Search teams looking for three missing climbers in Kyrgyzstan have found a backpack, an orange item believed to be a jacket or sleeping bag, and other equipment, LRT reports, citing the latest official information.

The items were spotted on Thursday by a drone and helicopter at an altitude of about 4,500 metres, beneath the western side of a ridge. Search organisers said the equipment appeared to belong to one member of the group. The climbers themselves and any tracks were not visible nearby or along the ridge.

Organisers said no conclusions had yet been reached, but the items may have been lost during the descent. They said that if the group had fallen together while roped up, equipment belonging to the other climbers would also likely have been found nearby.

The backpack may have fallen from a steep section above the first camp, at an altitude of between 5,100 and 5,300 metres. The section is considered one of the most difficult parts of the ridge, with rock and ice that offer little opportunity for securing a foothold. Debris is constantly falling there even in good weather, while large crevasses lie below the avalanche debris.

Rain stopped the search in the evening. Teams are now reviewing footage from the drone and helicopter frame by frame. Climbers, volunteers and the missing men’s relatives are working alongside computer analysis that marks unusual objects on the slope. Organisers said some of the items found on Thursday were identified in this way.

The missing climbers are 37 year old Lithuanian citizen Sergei Rubtsov and two Belarusian citizens, 43 year old Maksim Paliansky and 60 year old Nikolai Sviridov. There has been no contact with them since August 2.

The group arrived in the Osh region in the second half of July and reached the start of its route in the Kyzylsu river gorge. Their satellite phone failed to connect, so they maintained intermittent contact through a Chinese mobile operator.

On August 1, the climbers reached the 6,613 metre Kurumdy summit via its northern ridge. The following day, they reported that they expected to leave on August 4. A driver went to the agreed meeting point twice, but the group did not return, prompting the search operation.

Rubtsov’s family has asked the public for help, saying additional resources are needed for the search and rescue operation. A helicopter and personnel able to work at high altitude are considered essential because walking across the glacier is unsafe during storms and slopes above 5,000 metres cannot be examined from the ground. The climbers’ families are covering the costs, according to the report.