Missing mountaineers fell under a snow avalanche - a representative of the Ministry of Emergency Situations

Baku / 03.01.18 / Turan: Due to sharp deterioration of weather conditions, the search of the three mountaineers missing during a procession from the village of Khinalig of Guba region to Mount Tufandag is limited. The representative of the Ministry for Emergency Situations said that the climbers had fallen under a snow avalanche and there were practically no chances that they were still alive. He laid responsibility for the life of climbers at the Ministry of Ecology and the club of air and extreme sports "Gilavar". Members of the sports club of air and extreme sports "Gilavar" Farida Jebrailzade, Babur Huseynov and Namin Bunyatzade departed from Khinalig village of Guba region on December 23 to climb Mount Tufandag. The search works began only three days after the information on the disappearance of climbers in the Ministry of Emergencies.

According to the Ministry of Emergency Situations, search and rescue work since January 2 is limited due to a sharp deterioration in weather conditions - snowfall, drop in air temperature, increased wind, reduced visibility.

Professional rescue teams, formed by the Ministry of Emergency Situations, employees of other government agencies, volunteers from professional mountaineers are involved in the rescue work. Depending on the weather conditions, helicopters and specially trained dogs of the Ministry of Emergency Situations are involved. The Ministry of Emergency Situations refutes messages in social networks of people who represent themselves as volunteers that the search works are not organized correctly, the technique and the living force are not attracted in the right amount.

Head of the headquarters of search and rescue works, the head of the Northern Regional Center of the Ministry of Emergency Situations Shahin Mirzoyev in an interview with gununsesi.info called the criticism unreasonable. According to him, at 20-degree frost, the probability of snow avalanches is really not allowed hikes in these amateur places. "They write that we deliberately do not allow volunteers to search. This is not true.

There is a group of people who come only to be photographed in the ravines or by helicopter. For their safety we are responsible. If they fall under an avalanche, then we are directly responsible for this. They do not have any technical equipment, not even special shoes," Mirzoev said. According to him, the missing mountaineers fell under the avalanche.

"We know that they have fallen under a snow avalanche. The day before the termination of communication with them, they reported that "here is a blizzard, we installed a tent." They reported that after the normalization of weather they would come. After that, communication with them ceased. We were not given the trajectory of the movement of climbers. All this should have been given in advance. Let them talk about it. And what do they achieve by spreading such messages? It seems to me that these people have been prompted to speak so," Mirzoev said, expressing his attitude towards publications in social networks. According to him, the search works are conducted at a depth of 6 meters. In Mirzoyev's view, the alpinists hardly remained alive.

"So far I cannot say anything ... Miracle may happen. They fell under the avalanche - are under the snow at a depth of 10-15 meters. In general, in a snow for several hours in a motionless state a person freezes. Obviously, they were frozen. If we ourselves stay there for half an hour or so, we will freeze. But we do not lose hope and are working hard to continue the search," Mirzoyev said. According to him, responsible for the mountaineers are the Ministry of Ecology and the Gilavar Club.

"In fact, the Ministry of Ecology should not allow climbers to move in this direction. The sports club also had to be against it. However, they issued a permit. So they are now busy, they want to blacken us. They are responsible for the life of three climbers, and they want to slander us," Mirzoyev said.

The Ministry of Ecology and the club of air and extreme sports "Gilavar" have not commented on the statements of the representative of the Ministry of Emergency Situations. -03D06--