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Rescuers Call Off Mission To Save Woman Stranded 22,000ft Up Mountain With Broken Leg For Over 10 Days

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Russian climber Natalia Nagovitsina, 47, has been stranded on Victory Peak in Kyrgyzstan for more than ten days with a broken leg
A final attempt to save a Russian mountaineer trapped nearly 23,000 feet up a mountain with a severe leg injury has now been officially abandoned, according to multiple reports.Veteran climber Natalia Nagovitsina, aged 47, has been stranded on Victory Peak in Kyrgyzstan for at least ten days while facing brutal conditions, with temperatures plunging as low as -23C during the ordeal.Victory Peak — also known as Jengish Chokusu or Pik Pobedy — stands as Kyrgyzstan’s tallest mountain at 24,406 feet. It is part of the remote Tian Shan range and sits on the Kyrgyzstan–China border near Lake Issyk-Kul, making rescue efforts incredibly difficult.

Drone footage taken three days ago captured Nagovitsina still moving on the mountainside, wrapped in a sleeping bag that had been delivered by Italian climber Luca Sinigaglia.To give her a fighting chance against the freezing weather, the 49-year-old climber had also carried a small tent, food supplies, drinking water, and even a portable gas stove up the treacherous slope to her location.Tragically, after performing this selfless act, Sinigaglia succumbed to hypothermia and the effects of low oxygen, losing his life shortly afterward.

Russian mountaineer Natalia Nagovitsina, 47, has been stuck on Victory Peak in Kyrgyzstan for ten dayseast2west
“He carried out an act of great courage. He would never have left anyone behind, and especially not Natalia, with whom he had survived an experience that made them very close,” said Sinigaglia’s sister Patrizia in a statement to The Times.Rescuers later recovered his body from an ice cave where he had collapsed, apparently from sheer exhaustion after the climb.“It was an action to be proud of that unfortunately did not allow him to return to us. But that was Luca,” she added, reflecting on her brother’s bravery.

Nagovitsina was seen moving about in drone footage earlier this weekeast2west
Several other attempts to reach Nagovitsina, both by climbing teams and by helicopter, also ended in failure. One defense ministry Mi-8 helicopter crashed during the effort, and another aircraft was forced to turn back due to dangerous weather conditions.The latest setback led to the mission being called off, according to rescue leader Dmitry Grekov, who is also head of the mountain’s base camp operations.Grekov revealed that Vitaly Akimov, the mountaineer leading one of the ground rescue teams, had to abandon the mission after sustaining painful back injuries in the earlier helicopter crash.

The experienced climber has reportedly been trapped since she broke her legeast2west
When asked if Nagovitsina still had any chance of survival, Grekov responded: “I think not, because she has been there since 12 August – count how much time has passed.”“It is unrealistic. It is unrealistic to survive at such an altitude.”The Russian Mountaineering Federation had earlier said that any successful rescue at this point would amount to nothing short of a ‘miracle’.

Alexander Pyatnitsyn, vice president of the federation, explained the grim odds: “It will be almost impossible to save her.”“There’s a three-kilometre-long ridge, and it takes at least 30 people in such a situation to rescue a person from there.”

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