Kyrgyz media identifies Lithuanian climber among Korumdu dead

LRT reported, citing Kyrgyz news portal 24.kg, that relatives have confirmed the identities of two climbers who died on Korumdu peak, a mountain summit in Kyrgyzstan.

According to Kyrgyzstan’s Interior Ministry department in the Osh region, the climbers were 43-year-old Belarusian citizen Maksim Polianski and 37-year-old Lithuanian citizen Sergei Rubtsov. Lithuania’s Foreign Ministry said it had not yet received official confirmation of the Lithuanian citizen’s identity from Kyrgyz institutions.

The climbers’ bodies are currently being held at a morgue in Osh and are expected to be transported to their home countries later, local media reported.

The third member of the group, 60-year-old Belarusian citizen Nikolai Sviridov, has not yet been found.

Polianski, Sviridov and Rubtsov successfully reached the summit of Korumdu on August 2. They were due to begin descending to a camp at the foot of the mountain on August 4, but could not be contacted at the agreed time.

Kyrgyzstan’s Emergency Situations Ministry and volunteers launched a search operation, which was hampered by adverse weather. Heavy snowfall and poor visibility were reported in the search area.

Korumdu peak lies east of Lenin Peak in the Chon Alay mountain range, on the borders of Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and China. The range is characterised by narrow ridges, steep rocky summits and glaciers descending along steep slopes.

Several expeditions from different countries attempted to climb the peak before 2001 but were unsuccessful. Official records say a Kyrgyz team led by Aleksandr Gubayev made the first ascent on October 12, 2001, via the northern ridge at an altitude of 6,096 metres. Climbing Korumdu is considered extremely difficult.