Two Iranian climbers who were attempting an ascent in Kyrgyzstan’s Issyk-Kul region have gone missing and are presumed dead. TASS reported, citing the Plenipotentiary Representative of the President in the region.
The athletes, Maryam Pilehvari and Hassan Seyfollah, lost contact after setting out on their planned route.
A drone was deployed to conduct a visual inspection of the remote mountain area, but the search yielded no results — no trace of the Iranian team was found.
Due to the lack of information and the extremely difficult conditions in the area, authorities assume the climbers did not survive.
«The climbers were not found; they are presumed dead,» the representative’s office stated.
Earlier, Kyrgyzstan’s Ministry of Defense carried out several rescue operations, during which 62 climbers and tourists were evacuated. Search-and-rescue missions to bring down the injured and bodies of the dead to base camps are still ongoing.
Meanwhile, Russian climber Natalia Nagovitsina was stranded for several days on Pobeda Peak. Poor weather conditions had prevented the Defense Ministry from launching a rescue operation earlier. The situation was further complicated by the severe weather and the difficulty of the route.
According to preliminary reports, the 47-year-old climber no longer shows signs of life and is believed to have died.
