Chances of survival are slipping away for an injured climber who has been stuck on a mountain in Kyrgyzstan for 12 days after rescue efforts had to be terminated due to bad weather.
Natalia Nagovitsyna was descending from the top of Jengish Chokusu [Victory Peak], at Kyrgyzstan-China border, when she broke her leg on August 12.
A rep for Kyrgyzstan's Ministry of Emergency Situations shared that the experienced mountaineer has been stuck on the mountain ever since despite repeated rescue efforts, which also claimed the life of another climber.
An Italian mountaineer, Luca Sinigaglia, one of the climbers who tried to rescue Nagovitsyna, died on the mountain on August 15. His body was not recovered due to bad weather.
The Russian and Italian media reported that a group of climbers managed to reach the injured woman after her injury and provided her with some supplies.
However, they could not evacuate her due to the extreme conditions on the mountain at that time.
A surveillance drone last spotted Nagovitsyna on a ridge not far from the top of the mountain on August 19. The emergencies ministry spokesperson told CNN that at that time, she was believed to be alive.
The deteriorating weather conditions, including heavy snowfall, forced the search for Nagovitsyna to be suspended over the weekend.
At 24,400 feet (7,439 metres) above sea level, the Victory peak is the highest mountain of the Tian Shan range.
It is considered an extremely difficult mountain to climb, partly because of its location, and is considered one of the so-called Snow Leopard mountains, the five 7,000-metre peaks in the former Soviet Union.
Nagovitsyna's husband, Sergei Nagovitsyn, died during an expedition to Khan-Tengri, another of the five Snow Leopard peaks.
Natalia Nagovitsyna stayed with him during the climb when he became incapacitated, with reports suggesting that she refused to leave him until rescuers arrived.
