A group of climbers has gone missing in the mountains of Kyrgyzstan after losing contact following a challenging route along the northern ridge of Peak Kurumdy, reports infohub.kz.
According to Kaktus.media, the missing group includes two citizens of Belarus and one from Latvia. On August 4, the climbers successfully summited and contacted their operator, saying they were ready to descend and heading toward base camp. However, they failed to arrive at the checkpoint at the scheduled time, and all communication was lost.
Rescuers have found the climbers' tent, but their whereabouts remain unknown, reports Sputnik Kyrgyzstan. The Belarusian Federation of Alpinism and Climbing has asked its Kyrgyz counterparts for help in the search.
"On August 8, rescuers from the Ministry of Emergency Situations conducted searches and spent the night at an altitude of 5,000 meters. Today, five rescuers with special equipment, five border guards, and two volunteer guides from Switzerland joined the operation," the Kyrgyz Ministry of Emergency Situations said in a statement.
The incident has once again highlighted the dangers of climbing in Kyrgyzstan's mountains. Last year, Kursiv reported on the tragedy of Russian climber Natalia Nagovitsina. In August 2025, she was injured while climbing Peak Pobeda and spent 21 days in the "death zone" at temperatures of minus 26 degrees Celsius without food or water. She could not be saved.
Several attempts to evacuate Nagovitsina failed due to weather and extremely difficult conditions. During one rescue operation, a climber died. On August 25, 2025, the operation was officially called off, and later a drone confirmed Nagovitsina's death. She remains at an altitude of about 7,200 meters, where her husband, Sergei Nagovitsin, had died of a stroke several years earlier.
Her body is still in the mountains, and Kyrgyz authorities are discussing the possibility of its recovery.