5 Russian climbers found dead at Mt. Dhaulagiri in Nepal

By Anadolu staff

ANKARA(AA) - Five Russian climbers, who went missing on Sunday while attempting to summit Mt. Dhaulagiri, were found dead on Tuesday, authorities confirmed.

The bodies of Alexander Dusheyko, Oleg Kruglov, Vladimir Chistikov, Mikhail Nosenko, and Dmitrii Shpilevoi were found at an altitude of 7,100 meters (23,293 feet) by a rescue helicopter, said Mingma Sherpa, the director of Heli Everest, who conducted the search operation, according to The Himalayan Times.

The climbers were believed to have fallen from an altitude of 7,600 meters (24,934 feet) before they lost contact after departing from the high camp at 6.00 am local time (0015GMT) for their summit push on Sunday.

They last communicated with fellow climbers at base camp around 11.00 am (local time) on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Valerii Shamalo, a member of the team who had abandoned the summit attempt, was rescued from Camp I and brought to Kathmandu. He had descended after halting his bid above Camp IV.

Dhaulagiri is the world’s seventh-highest mountain with an altitude of 8,167 meters (26,795 ft) above sea level.

A total of 14 Russians attempted to climb Mt. Dhaulagiri, and eight of them had already descended after a successful ascent.