BISHKEK: A Polish climber has died trying to scale one of Kyrgyzstan’s highest peaks and a Czech climber is missing, the authorities here said on Thursday. The Pole fell to his death close to the summit of the 7,000-metre mountain Khan Tengri, said a statement from the Kyrgyz emergency situations ministry.

“Polish citizen Oleksi Mateusz fell on July 23 in the area of Khan Tengri mountain while ascending the peak. The incident occurred at an altitude of 6,100-6,400 metres,” the statement said.

The body of the Pole had just been found, the ministry said.

In a separate development, rescuers were seeking Czech citizen Maria Shmelerova. One of a group of nine climbers, trying to scale another mountain, Peak Lenin, she went missing on July 12-13.

Foreign climbers frequently fall foul of avalanches and other extreme conditions in Kyrgyzstan, an ex-Soviet state that has some of the world’s highest peaks but lacks funds for mountain rescue operations.—AFP