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Weather impedes search for Polish, Iranian tourists on Elbrus

They went missing on March 15

NALCHIK, March 18 (Itar-Tass) – A heavy snowfall on the Elbrus Mount prevents rescuers from resuming the search for two tourists from Poland and Iran who went missing on March 15, the emergency situations department in Russia’s southern republic of Kabardino-Balkaria told Itar-Tass on Monday.

“A hut built in the saddle between two mountain tops last summer remains. There is a hope that the climbers may be sheltering in the hut,” a source from the republican department of the emergencies ministry said.

Rescuers have already searched through all huts and shelters in the area of the Pastukhov Rocks at an altitude of 4,800 metres above sea level. Two tourist bags, belonging to the alpinists, were found.

Polish citizen Pavel Gostinsky and Iranian climber Ali-Atabi Cirelli went missing on the Elbrus slope on March 15. Information abot that came to the Elbrus search-and-rescue team from the Polish Embassy. The group of tourists was not registered officially. Otherwise, the rescuers would have known about their itinerary and possible whereabouts.

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