A whole group of tourists died on a volcano in Kamchatka: why they could not be saved

All eight tourists who tried to climb the Klyuchevskaya Sopka volcano in Kamchatka died, reports with the BBC.

Photo: IStock

Two guides continue to wait for help from rescuers at an altitude of more than 4 thousand meters (two more tourists are in the camp lower down the slope). Rescuers need more than a day to get to the guides - they have already landed from a helicopter, but below the point.

A group of 10 tourists and two guides from a number of regions of Russia have been on the slope of the Klyuchevskaya Sopka volcano since August 30. On Saturday, September 3, nine people began the ascent, starting from a height of 3 meters. Others stayed in the camp - in the house of volcanologists. On the same day, it became known that six people who went to storm the summit died during a fall from a height.

What is known now

According to the latest data, the number of victims has increased to eight. On September 5, it became known about the death of two more people from the above group. Only the guide survived.

The second guide first remained in the camp, and then climbed higher. One of them got through on a satellite phone and reported that two more had died, according to local authorities.

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Both guides are waiting for help at an altitude of more than 4 meters, and two tourists are waiting in the volcanologists’ house.

Help will not come soon - the weather in the area is very bad.

The Mi-8 helicopter of the Russian Emergencies Ministry with rescuers on board on September 5 in the afternoon local time managed to land on the slope of the volcano, as reported by the regional center of emergency situations. He sat down at around 1663 meters.

“Strong winds, as well as ash rising from the slopes of the volcano, did not allow them to land at a higher altitude,” the report says.

How is the rescue operation

This was already the fourth attempt to land on the slope of the volcano at a height from which you can start climbing to the place where the tourists died.

Rescuers with climbing equipment have already started climbing, at best they expect to reach the mark of 3 meters, where two tourists stay in the volcanologists' house, at midnight.

Only on September 6, at dawn, they will be able to continue their journey to the mark of 4 meters, where guides are waiting for rescuers.

The search and rescue operation is aggravated by the wind, the gusts of which at heights reach 15-20 meters per second. The cloudiness is getting stronger.

Another group of rescuers is located on Klyuchevskaya Sopka at an altitude of 1 meters - lower than the helicopter landed. They set up a base camp there - in case the Mi-400 cannot pick up the search group, tourists and guides, and they need help.

Earlier there were reports that one of the guides broke his leg.

This ascent was organized by a travel company from Novosibirsk, the group was supposed to be led by two supposedly experienced guides - Ivan Alabugin and Andrey Mishchenko, reports NTV.

One of the dead, Andrey Gutor, a neurosurgeon from St. Petersburg, posted on his social media page a week ago a photo of tickets from St. Petersburg to Novosibirsk and from Novosibirsk to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. "To Kamchatka, again!" So he signed the post.

Andrei's friend Rustam Safin said that two years ago they climbed the eastern peak of Elbrus together. He says he was an experienced climber who constantly trained.

“He loved to travel, as far as I know, he also climbed Kazbek in Georgia, and the western peak of Elbrus, and also climbed Belukha in Altai. Mount Klyuchevskaya Sopka is considered difficult to climb, there are rockfalls and eruptions, but Andrey was an experienced climber, and I am sure that he would have climbed to the top,” said Rustam Safin.

The same friends say about another deceased - Maxim Solovyov. He was professionally engaged in skiing, was fond of extreme climbing. Solovyov's friend Ilya Karyagin says that they met in Krasnaya Polyana, where they trained. They say that Solovyov, before climbing Klyuchevskaya Sopka, walked for two months with a backpack weighing 20 kilograms - he was preparing for serious loads.

“Knowing Max, he was one hundred percent prepared for this, probably still a fatal coincidence of circumstances. Mountains are generally an aggressive environment. You need to understand that any mountain, even the most delicate and fluffy mountain, can sometimes show its character,” said Ilya Karyagin.

On the fact of the death of people, a criminal case was initiated under the article on causing death by negligence. The Novosibirsk company is waiting for an inspection by the prosecutor's office.

Why could this happen

Climber Ivan Kasatkin believes that tourists could go in a bunch of five people, which is prohibited for safety reasons. If one stumbles, the remaining group will fly into the abyss.

“I have one explanation for the tragedy - the unprofessionalism of both the leaders of the group and the team members. If there were five people in a bunch, then this is a gross violation when climbing a mountain peak. No more than three participants are allowed. They must have an idea of ​​what to do if one stumbles, find their bearings in time and prevent him from falling down. There is a special technique of behavior at the top. Perhaps one of the members of the bunch stumbled and flew down, others did not take the necessary measures to save. After the second one has flown away, the bunch can no longer be stopped, the dynamics are gaining and the rest are falling, ”said the climber Om1.ru.

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He noted that the second reason for the fall could be a break in the snow cornice. And this also testifies to the unprofessionalism of the team.

“Before going along the trail, instructors must go through it themselves, find out where there are cliffs, landslides and ice cornices. That is, this is an omission of the managers who did not properly prepare the route. I don’t know exactly how the group was assembled, but previously, the same instructors could easily include people who were not ready for a sports tourist climb into the team. I don't think they had any preparation. Possibly violations of instructions,” he said.

Klyuchevskaya Sopka (Klyuchevskiy Volcano) is the highest active volcano in Eurasia. Its absolute height is 4754 meters.

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