Mount Elbrus Storm Kills Five Bosnian Climbers on Peak

A high-altitude expedition on Russia’s Mount Elbrus turned fatal over the weekend as violent weather trapped a group of seven foreign climbers. The alpinists, identified by local law enforcement agencies cited by RIA Novosti as hailing from Bosnia and Herzegovina, encountered rapidly deteriorating conditions on the mountain.

Mount Elbrus Rescue Operations and Weather Hazards

Rescue efforts on the mountain began after one member of the climbing party descended to report that two members of the group became ill at an altitude of 5,100 meters. According to the regional prosecutor’s office, the initial report indicated that those two climbers had died at that high altitude.

Russia’s Emergency Situations Ministry deployed personnel who successfully saved two other climbers, evacuating them from the mountain for medical care. Rescuers subsequently located two further deceased members of the group at an altitude of 5,350 meters (17,550 feet). The regional branch of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation stated that while three additional bodies have since been recovered by search teams, they have not yet been evacuated due to severe weather, RIA Novosti reported.

“According to investigators, on July 24 a group of seven climbers – foreign nationals – was climbing Mount Elbrus. The following evening, due to rapidly deteriorating weather conditions, the group strayed from the route,” the local prosecutor’s office said on Sunday.

The local prosecutor’s office added: “Subsequently, rescuers found another surviving climber and the bodies of three other climbers who had died.”

Mount Elbrus rises to 5,642 meters (18,510 feet) just north of the border with Georgia. The peak is infamous for sudden changes in weather and climbing conditions. Russian media reported that the weather worsened suddenly, after which two people fell ill, while four people were being searched for. Russia’s Emergency Situations Ministry stated that rescuers evacuated the bodies of two dead climbers located at an altitude of 5,350 meters, after first saving two other climbers who were evacuated from the mountain and taken for medical care.

Zenica Community Mourns the Lost Alpinists

All five mountaineers from Bosnia and Herzegovina who died, who set out to conquer Elbrus, the highest peak in Russia, are from Zenica – confirmed the head of the Mountain Rescue Service in Zenica, Kenan Hrustanović to Fena news agency. Hrustanović noted that if he had not suffered a knee injury, he would probably also have been a member of this expedition.

“I can only confirm that everyone died from Zenica,” Hrustanović stated, specifying that the group included two members of the Zenica GSS and three members of the Vedro Mountaineering Society.

Hrustanović added that he received the tragic news, and that he cannot announce the names of the dead. Since then, he has been in contact with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Bosnia’s foreign minister, Elmedin Konakovic, confirmed reports of the deaths.

Investigation and Status of the Recovery Effort

The Investigative Committee is conducting a pre-investigation check into the incident. The Elbrus high-altitude search and rescue team continued searching for the climbers after one alpinist went down to authorities and stated that two members of the group had fallen ill at an altitude of 5,100 metres and died. While two survivors were successfully rescued and taken for medical care, and the regional branch of the Investigative Committee noted that rescuers had recovered the bodies of three more deceased climbers, those bodies have not yet been evacuated due to bad weather as authorities await safer conditions to complete the operation on Europe’s highest mountain.