KATHMANDU: The bodies of five Russian mountain climbers who died while trying to reach the top of the seventh-highest mountain in the world, Dhaulagiri, have been recovered and brought to Kathmandu. The incident happened at Mudhi, which is part of Dhaulagiri Rural Municipality-4, at an elevation of 7,100 meters.
The District Police Office in Myagdi's Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), Bharat Shrestha, stated that bad weather made it extremely difficult to recover the dead. Mingma Sherpa of Seven Summit Trek led a group of Sherpas in the mission, which was carried out using an Altitude Air helicopter.
By 11 AM on the day of the report, one body had successfully been brought down to the Italian base camp, with efforts ongoing to retrieve the remaining bodies. The climbers had lost contact while at an altitude of 7,600 meters on October 7.
The deceased climbers were identified as Alexander Dusheyko, Oleg Kurgulov, Chistikov Vladimir, Nosenko Mikhail, and Shpilevoz Dmitri. Their bodies were located on the afternoon of October 9 after a difficult search operation.
In order to reach the climbers' location, rescuers had to descend by rope from the helicopter after encountering difficulties landing the aircraft at the scene of the tragedy. Strong gusts and an avalanche are thought to have contributed to the catastrophe.
After descending from a higher camp, one climber, Chistikov Vladimir, was saved from the first camp earlier. After arriving at the fourth camp, he was unable to proceed and remained there until he was saved and sent to Kathmandu.
The tragedy emphasizes the risks involved in summiting peaks like Dhaulagiri, highlighting the problems rescue crews encounter in inclement weather and the inherent dangers of high-altitude mountaineering.