Three bodies found in Kyrgyzstan likely missing climbers

Three bodies have been found at the bottom of the Korumdu Gorge in Kyrgyzstan and are very likely those of missing climbers from Belarus and Lithuania, LRT reported, citing news.kg and Eduard Kubatov, head of the Kyrgyz Mountaineering Federation.

“It is very likely that these are the bodies of climbers from Belarus and Lithuania. We are waiting for stable weather conditions so we can confirm this and later transport them to Osh,” Kubatov said.

The bodies are located at an altitude of about 6,500 metres. The search and rescue operation, as well as the subsequent recovery, has been complicated by the high altitude and unstable weather. The mountaineering season has already ended.

According to the Zerkalo news portal, Belarusian climbers Maksim Polyansky, 43, and Nikolai Sviridov, 60, and Lithuanian citizen Sergei Rubtsov, 37, were climbing Korumdu Peak along the northern ridge of the Pamir-Alay and Trans-Alay mountain ranges. They stopped communicating on August 4.

Rubtsov’s brother Artur told Delfi that the climber had said he was at an altitude of about 6,000 metres, descending, and expected to reach a location where transport would be waiting within two days. No further information was received from him after that Sunday.

Kyrgyzstan’s Ministry of Emergency Situations later said rescuers had found an empty tent belonging to the missing group. On August 16, a drone survey located climbing boots fitted with crampons, as well as some equipment and clothing. Snow and rocks obscured the area, and people could not be seen in the footage.

At the time, the search website said the outlines visible in the footage were being interpreted as bodies, but that this could only be confirmed after rescuers descended to the location and identified them. On August 17, however, the ministry said that no bodies had yet been found and that only the climbers’ personal belongings had been located.