Rescuers in the mountains of Almaty have been searching for a week for 73-year-old South Korean citizen Cho Kukhee, who went hiking and stopped communicating, infohub.kz reports.
The foreigner went to the mountains with friends. At some point he separated from the group and then stopped answering calls. Rescuers have already combed the Malaya Almatinskaya Krugosvetka and Talgar Pass — the last place the man was seen. According to his friends, Cho Kukhee decided to climb to the summit alone from there. A day later, the tourist's disappearance was reported to the South Korean embassy.
The search operation involves eight vehicles, seven drones, a helicopter and service dogs.
In light of the incident, rescuers urged tourists not to go into the mountains alone and to always inform acquaintances of their routes.
"The most important rule is that you must turn back by 1 p.m., wherever you are. It gets dark very quickly in the mountains. And, accordingly, you won't be able to navigate in mountainous terrain as you would in daylight. Second — wear bright clothing, not black. Because during search operations it is impossible to find a person in black, especially at night," said Karlygash Nusurbekova, head of the Voluntary Rescue Service.
It was previously reported that on September 28, the 73-year-old foreign citizen took the Shymbulak cable car as part of a group, then continued on his own and disappeared. Searches were organized. Earlier, the Ministry of Emergency Situations reported that rescuers were continuing to survey the mountainous area near Almaty as part of the search for the citizen of the Republic of Korea.