In the mountains of the Almaty region, on the Severtsev Glacier in the Talgar district, tourists from Belarus discovered what are believed to be human remains. The coordinates of the site, along with photo and video materials, were handed over to emergency services, but the question of evacuation remains open, according to infohub.kz.
As Anastasia Akhmetova wrote on Facebook, on August 16, her acquaintances from Belarus completed a two-week hike in the mountains and after descending reported that they had seen human remains on the glacier.
"On Sunday, August 16, my Belarusian friends, mountain tourists, descended after a two-week trek through our mountains and told me and showed me a video that they had discovered the remains of a tourist on the Severtsev Glacier," Akhmetova wrote.
According to her, the information was passed on to city services. They were unable to reach 112, so the tourists contacted 109, and then sent coordinates, photos, and videos via WhatsApp.
Akhmetova claims that information about a deceased person in this area had appeared in tourist reports from a Russian group in 2025. The Belarusian tourists had seen this information before the hike but assumed the remains had already been evacuated.
"They were sure that the body had already been removed from the glacier," the author of the post noted.
According to her, this summer at least two tourist groups could have passed by the site where the remains were found.
Nearby, the Belarusians also met tourists from St. Petersburg. They reportedly said they had found documents in a backpack lying nearby and took them to hand over to the Ministry of Emergency Situations. Whether the documents were handed over to rescuers is unknown to Akhmetova.
The author of the post called for the remains to be evacuated as soon as possible, to identify the deceased, and to hand them over to relatives.
"Personally, I believe that leaving the remains there is unchristian, un-Islamic, and simply inhumane. This is someone's son, someone's father, someone's brother," she wrote.
In her opinion, if necessary, a DNA test should also be conducted.
Later, Akhmetova reported that she had reached the Department of Emergency Situations of the Almaty region. There, she said, they promised to clarify what measures would be taken.
After that, she published an update and stated that the Department of Emergency Situations had already passed the information to the police.
"The regional emergency department says they have informed the police and are waiting for a letter from the police so that rescuers can provide assistance. The letter has not arrived yet," Akhmetova reported.
She expressed concern that with the onset of autumn, operations could be complicated by snow.
The editorial board of Kursiv has contacted the Police Department of the Almaty region for comment. At the time of publication, no response had been received.