Russian climber dies in the Tien Shan Mountains without waiting for help
23 August 14:11
The Kyrgyz Ministry of Emergency Situations has concluded that Russian climber Natalia Nagovitsyna has died and has stopped the operation to rescue her. The woman spent 11 days with a broken leg at an altitude of 7.2 thousand meters near the Victory Peak. The climber’s son has to pay tens of thousands of dollars for the rescuers’ work.
Russian climber Natalia Nagovitsyna, who had been surviving at an altitude of 7,200 meters in the Tien Shan Mountains with a broken leg since August 12, has died, Russian media report, "Komersant Ukrainian".
The last time the woman was seen alive was on August 19: a drone filmed her hiding in a tent left by her friends when she was injured and unable to continue her journey. The athlete was hiding under the Bird rock, which protected her from the weather on at least one side.
One of the expedition members revealed new details of the incident: another climber was responsible for Nagovitsyna’s injury.
“Natasha’s group (she and three men) climbed to the top. During the descent, a participant fell off and pulled Natasha down, resulting in a fracture of her leg. Natasha’s tent was set up at 7,200 meters, and the exhausted, frozen participants headed down,” said the participant, who shall remain anonymous.
The weather conditions at Peremoha Peak are deteriorating every day: the temperature is dropping, and strong winds and a snow storm are hampering movement and reducing visibility.
For this reason, all previous attempts to approach Nagovitsyna by helicopter failed (the aircraft made a hard landing), and the rescue climbers who had climbed to an altitude of 6,000 meters on foot were forced to turn around and descend to the first camp, otherwise they could have died.
Nagovitsyn’s death has not yet been officially announced.
