On August 12, Russian climber Natalia Nagovitsina broke her leg while trying to descend from Victory Peak and remained at an altitude of more than 7,100 meters at a temperature of minus 25-26 degrees. Two weeks later, after repeated attempts to rescue the athlete, the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Kyrgyzstan officially declared her missing, TASS reports.
Meanwhile, Natalia's son is confident that his mother is alive and has turned to the Russian and Kyrgyz authorities for help.
It is known that after a leg injury on August 12, her partner gave her first aid, but was forced to go down to the alpine camp for support. Climbers from Italy and Germany also tried to help their colleague. They delivered food, water and warm clothes to her, but both died after that, Radio Azattyk writes.
On August 19, a drone captured Natalia alive, and nothing has been known about her fate since. Attempts to reach the woman were unsuccessful, and on August 23, the Kyrgyz authorities suspended the rescue operation.
"Yes, she has been declared missing, because no one can officially state her life or death," Adil Charygov, a spokesman for the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Kyrgyz Republic, told TASS.
The Russian Mountaineering Federation also said that until Natalia's body is found, she will be considered missing.
The son asked for help
In turn, Natalia Nagovitsina's son Mikhail is confident that his mother is alive, noting in his message on VKontakte that she is "an experienced climber, has a 2 sports category in mountaineering, has good health and excellent physical fitness."
"The video I received from maga.fpv clearly shows that 7 days after losing contact, she is actively waving her hand, full of energy. I am convinced that my mother is still alive," he wrote on August 26.
Mikhail appealed to the head of the Investigative Committee, the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation, the Russian Foreign Ministry and the Russian Ambassador to Kyrgyzstan with a request to "assist in organizing aerial photography of the area of Victory Peak using drones in order to confirm that she is alive, and if confirmed, to organize a rescue operation."
The press service of the State Committee for National Security (GKNB) of Kyrgyzstan reported on August 27 that as part of the operation to rescue the climber, aerial photography of her location was carried out using UAVs equipped with high-precision equipment and a thermal imager. According to information received from drones, "no signs of Natalia Nagovitsina's life could be found."
Meanwhile, a criminal case will be opened against the travel agency Ak–Sai Travel, which organized Natalia Nagovitsina's ascent to Victory Peak, the Interior Ministry of Kyrgyzstan reported. At the same time, there is no clarification on which article a criminal case will be initiated and what Ak–Sai Travel faces.
The company itself expressed condolences to the relatives of the climber and noted that the rescue operation had been underway for almost two weeks, but it had to be completed, since evacuation was possible only with the stabilization of the weather, the presence of a trained team and helicopter support.
Victory Peak, with a height of 7,439 meters, is considered the highest point of the Tien Shan mountain system, located on the border with China. This is one of the most difficult peaks in the world and is considered the deadliest of the seven thousand meters in terms of the ratio of the number of ascents and deaths of climbers. There is no data on the rescue of people from a height of 7 thousand meters from this peak.
