GILGIT: Two Russian climbers were rescued from Gasherbrum IV on Tuesday after remaining stranded at an altitude of 6,400 metres for over three days.

A five-member rescue team successfully managed to bring down the climbers to the advance base camp at a height of 6,000m on Tuesday.

The Army Aviation helicopters are expected to airlift the climbers to Skardu today (Wednesday).

According to the tour operator of the Russian climbers, the two mountaineers suffered injuries in their legs and arms and probably fractures. How­ever, they are out of danger now.

The climbers Mikhail Mironov and Sergei Miro­nov were part of a five-member team attempting to ascend the mountain when they were hit by a snow avalanche at 6,400m altitude on Saturday.

The two climbers got stranded after being injured, while two others, Alexy Bautin and Evgeni Lablokov, remained unhurt and were later rescued by the army and airlifted to Skardu on Sunday.

One of their partners, Sergei Nilov, who went missing, has lost his life, the rescued climbers told Dawn on Tuesday.

The five climbers had set out on a mission to retrieve the body of their countryman, Dmitry Golovchenko, who went missing on the mountain in 2023.

Rescue mission

On Sunday, the Army Aviation helicopters dropped the five-men rescue team — four local climbers Yousuf Ali, Muhammad Ali, Ghulam Abbas, Muhammad Younus and Mr Lablokov — at a height of 6,000m as helicopters can’t land and hover above that altitude.

The rescue team started their climb to approach the stranded climbers at 6,4000m in the early hours of Monday.

Despite bad weather, snowfall and wind, the rescuers successfully approached the climbers and provided them with food and other necessities.

They were then brought down to 6,000m, where a tent and other facilities had been made available for climbers.

The Army Aviation helicopters were set to fly from Skardu to airlift the climbers from the advance base camp on Tuesday but couldn’t do so due to the bad weather.

Published in Dawn, August 21st, 2024