Rescuers ‘give up last hope’ of reaching Russian climber stranded for 13 days 22,000ft up mountain with a broken leg

Rescuers today gave up hope of reaching a brave woman mountaineer ‘left to die’ on a 24,406ft peak.

Russian mountaineer Natalia, also known as Natasha, Nagovitsina, 47, has been trapped at 22,965ft on Victory Peak in Kyrgyzstan, with a summit height of 24,406ft for the last 13 days.  

The last footage showing the Russian climber alive was revealed, showing her clearly moving and ‘waving’ at a drone sent up to monitor her on Tuesday 19 August.

It also showed her tent torn by the ferocious winds in the spot where she was seeking shelter at 22,965 ft under a large rock called the ‘Bird’.

Nagovitsina had fallen – breaking her leg – 13 days ago and multiple attempts to bring her down the treacherous mountain failed due to atrocious weather.

There were hopes today of a window in the bad weather to enable a new drone flight to the ‘death zone’ where she was trapped, to see if by a miracle she was still alive despite temperatures of minus 30C at the weekend.

But agonisingly there was no break in the cloud covering Victory [Pobeda] Peak in Kyrgyzstan, part of the Tian Shan range.

And it was revealed that a special light helicopter and an Italian crew – who could have flown today if there was any sign of life – has now left the remote region.

The last chance of rescuing her has now gone, according to reports.

Russian mountaineer Natalia, also known as Natasha, Nagovitsina, 47, has been trapped at 22,965ft on Victory Peak in Kyrgyzstan, with a summit height of 24,406ft

Russian mountaineer Natalia, also known as Natasha, Nagovitsina, 47, has been trapped at 22,965ft on Victory Peak in Kyrgyzstan, with a summit height of 24,406ft

Drone footage filmed four days ago showed clear movement from the sleeping bag she has been sheltering in

Drone footage filmed four days ago showed clear movement from the sleeping bag she has been sheltering in

‘The rescue mission on Mount Pobeda was officially brought to an end,’ reported a Russian mountaineering portal.

‘The Italian pilots have departed. Weather conditions remain poor.’

The head of the mountaineers’ base camp, Dmitry Grekov, said there was no longer any hope of rescue.

He also said that while her precise location was known he could not confirm her death, due to the bad weather conditions.

‘The last attempt to save Russian mountaineer Natalia Nagovitsina, who broke her leg at over 7,000 metres on Mount Pobeda, has failed,’ reported SOTA Telegram channel.

‘The Ministry of Emergency Situations had planned to use a drone to check for signs of life, followed by deployment of a light Airbus Helicopters H125.

‘However, the expected weather ‘window’ never opened.

‘Today the helicopter was returned to its permanent base,’ said Adil Chargynov, a representative of Kyrgyzstan’s Ministry of Emergency Situations.

‘Italian pilots, brought in for their high-altitude experience, are now returning home.’

The recovery of the well-known mountaineer’s body would be possible only ‘in the spring’.

The attempt to reach her was earlier abandoned on Friday when a bid to climb up to her was aborted after the group’s leader suffered back problems caused by an Mi-8 helicopter crash landing during an earlier rescue mission.

The climbers were just 3,600ft below her when they had to abort the rescue attempt.

Footage shows the conditions when the team was ordered by the rescue chief to go no further.

Rescuers said then – on Friday – they believed she was dead due to the dreadful conditions and lack of food.

Nagovitsina went viral in 2021 after she refused to leave her husband Sergei (right), after he suffered a stroke at 22,000ft

Nagovitsina went viral in 2021 after she refused to leave her husband Sergei (right), after he suffered a stroke at 22,000ft

Previous rescue efforts for the climber failed due to bad weather

Previous rescue efforts for the climber failed due to bad weather

Grekov said at the time that it was ‘unrealistic’ she could be saved.

‘I turned the whole group around, there were four of them,’ he said.

Asked if she was still alive at the time, he admitted he did not know but said: ‘I think not, because she has been there since 12 August – count how much time has passed….

‘It is unrealistic. It is unrealistic to survive at such an altitude.’

But the rescuers faced a backlash criticising them for the decision to ‘leave her to die’ and the failed attempts to reach her, notably not deploying a light helicopter sooner.

Earlier, a sleeping bag had been delivered to the stricken Nagovitsina by Italian climber Luca Sinigaglia, 49, who also brought her a tent, food, water and a gas cooker.

Heroic Sinigaglia was unable to bring her down and he tragically died on his own way back to report on her condition and arrange a full-scale rescue.

But there has been criticism of the rescue mission including by Anna Piunova, deputy head of the Russian Mountaineering Federation.

‘I would definitely have tried to do three things: drag her, make her slide down to the obelisk, leave a radio, start talking to the Eurocopter right away, so that it would be on the third day, not the last,’ she said.

‘It was obvious that the Mi-8 was not an option.’

On Saturday, a final effort to climb to Nagovitsina was abandoned just 3,600ft below where she is stuck, with the weather set to worsen, as the team were ordered to return to base camp.

Previous attempts involved two separate helicopters, including a defence ministry Mi-8 helicopter which crashed as it sought to rescue her.

Another helicopter, a Mi-17VM, was sent, but zero visibility again forced rescuers to abandon the attempt.

Dmitry Grekov, rescue leader and head of base camp at Victory Peak, said that experienced mountaineer Vitaly Akimov had led a team seeking to climb to Nagovitsina.

But the crew was forced to turn around when the group leader started suffering back pain from the helicopter crash and the mission was abandoned.

Sinigaglia, who had also been on the helicopter, was hailed a hero on social media after news of his death reached base camp.

‘I turned the whole group around, there were four of them,’ said Grekov.

Asked if Nagovitsina was still alive, he admitted he did not know but said: ‘I think not, because she has been there since 12 August – count how much time has passed.

Today a final effort to climb to Nagovitsina was abandoned just 3,600ft below where she is stuck, with the weather set to worsen, as the team were ordered to return to base

Today a final effort to climb to Nagovitsina was abandoned just 3,600ft below where she is stuck, with the weather set to worsen, as the team were ordered to return to base

The Kyrgyzstan Ministry of Emergency Situations confirmed the rescue mission has been called off

The Kyrgyzstan Ministry of Emergency Situations confirmed the rescue mission has been called off

‘It is unrealistic. It is unrealistic to survive at such an altitude.’

The Kyrgyzstan Ministry of Emergency Situations confirmed the rescue mission had been called off.

Nagovitsina shot to fame four years ago when she refused orders to leave her husband alone on another mountain after he suffered a stroke at 22,638ft.

He died on the mountain, but she somehow managed to survive the incident in 2021.

Her radio conversion with base camp went viral as she refused to leave husband Sergei Nagovitsin on the mountain, close to the borders of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and China.

‘He can’t sit up, falls on his side, his speech is confused,’ she told rescuers.

‘Natasha, you need to go down yourself. You won’t be able to help him in any way. Do you understand me? Over.’

She replied: ‘I understand everything, but I will not leave him alone.’

The team later told her: ‘You need to go down, Natasha, the weather is getting worse, it’s almost night.’

‘I won’t leave my husband, he’s completely helpless, I’m giving him something to drink.’

‘So, your decision is to spend the night next to him?’

‘Yes.’

Rescuers eventually reached the pair and two men tried to move Sergey while she went down.

But they could not go far, and secured him with ropes, and left all their warm clothing and food, before cutting a route further down the mountain, to get more help.

When they were able to return, he was nowhere to be found. 

A report on the incident ruled: ‘Most likely in delirium he broke out of ropes and crashed to his death. His body has never been found.

‘A year later Natalia once again went to Khan Tengri to install a plaque in memory of her husband.

‘But no one in the new group had any idea what this courageous woman had lived through on that summit a year earlier – a woman who showed the whole world what love and self-sacrifice mean.’

His body was never found.

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