Radio contact has reportedly been made with mountaineers from the crashed helicopter. They are making preparations for evacuation, according to some sources.
The Committee on Emergency Situations and Civil Defense (CES) under the Government of Tajikistan says a radio contact has been made with mountaineers from the helicopter was forced to make a crash landing Sunday afternoon, at about 4:30 pm.
Ms. Umeda Yusufi, a spokeswoman for CES, says the site where the helicopter had made a crash landing was identified and three helicopters carrying rescue and medical personnel were dispatched to the site of the accident.
Meanwhile, the Mash telegram channel says the mountaineers from crashed helicopter are making preparations for evacuation.
One of mountaineers – Dmitry Kumshayev – reportedly got in touch with rescuers and said that at least twelve persons were alive.
Recall, CES has reported that an Mi-8 helicopter with 3 crew and 13 mountaineers on board was forced to make a crash landing Sunday (August 12) afternoon, at about 4:30 pm, as it approached the base camp at the Fortambek Glacier.
The mountaineers were reportedly returning to the base camp after ascending Tajikistan’s tallest mountain – Ismoili Somoni Peak,
The majority of the mountaineers are nationals of the Russian Federation but there are also nationals of Belarus and Spain among them.
Ismoili Somoni Peak is the highest mountain in Tajikistan. It was within the territory of the former Russian Empire and the former Soviet Union before the area became independent as Tajikistan. The mountain is named after Ismoili Somoni, a ruler of the Samanid dynasty.
When the existence of a peak in the Soviet Pamir Mountains higher than Lenin Peak was first established in 1928, the mountain was tentatively identified with Garmo Peak. However, as the result of the work of further Soviet expeditions, it became clear by 1932 that they were not the same, and in 1933 the new peak, in the Academy of Sciences Range, was named Stalin Peak, after Joseph Stalin. In 1962, as part of Khrushchev's nationwide de-Stalinization process, the name was changed to Communism Peak, a name by which it is still commonly known. The name Communism Peak was officially dropped in 1998 in favor of the current name, commemorating the 9th century Samanid emir, Ismoili Somoni.
The first ascent was made on September 3, 1933 by the Soviet mountaineer Yevgeniy Abalakov.
The Pamir are a traditional tourist region and high altitude mountaineering. There two Pamir tops superbly ascend in the sky: the Peak of Eugenia Korzhenevskaya – 7,105 meters and the Peak of Ismoili Somoni – 7,495 meters. They are tremendously the mainstream with climbers everywhere throughout the world.
