No signs of living people found — head of rescue operation in Tian Shan says about missing alpinists

AKIPRESS.COM - Kazakh military performed 14 overflights under the Victory peak in the Tian Shan mountains to search for missing alpinists that gave no results, the Ministry of Defense of Kazakhstan reported. "The search operation was carried out at the height of 5,100-6,000 meters. The closest approach to the slope was 70 meters. According to head of the search and rescue operation Vasily Pivtsov, a visual look and check with the help of thermal cameras gave no results. No signs of living people and bodies were found as a result," the statement says.
The Ministry said that a foot operation was inappropriate, as there was a risk of avalanches in these sites. This poses a big threat and risk for rescuers.
A group of Almaty alpinists went missing in the peaks of the Tian Shan in Kyrgyzstan some days ago. They are Murat Otepbayev, Andrey Korneyev and Alexandr Chechulin. Search operation started on August 19.