All news

All Russian climbers buried under avalanche in Georgia identified

Three of them supposedly died

TBILISI, January 10 (Itar-Tass) — Four Russian mountain climbers trapped in an avalanche in Georgia’s Kazbegi district have been identified. Three of them supposedly died, representatives of the district told reporters on Thursday.

The avalanche buried in snow Sergei Stepanov, 44, and his two sons – Stepan, 17, and Maxim, 19, as well as their family’s friend Sergei Movchan, 42. According to the information available, all of them were born in the Rostov region, southern Russia.

Sergei and Stepan Stepanovs and Sergei Movchan supposedly died when they were descending Mkinvartsveri Mount.

Maxim Stepanov survived the avalanche. Ukrainian climbers found him near the site of the accident and with the help of local residents took him to a hospital. He has a second-third degree frostbite of his left hand.

A group of rescuers and a helicopter are searching for the trapped climbers, but bad weather and heavy fog hamper rescuers to approach the site of the accident.

The Kazbegi region is located near the North Ossetian section of the Georgian-Russian border. Mkinvartsveri Mount is 5,047 meters high.

In 2011 one Ukrainian and one Turkish mountain climbers died while ascending and descending the mount.