A HERO climber has died after trying to help his friend trapped on a 25,000ft peak with a broken leg.
Luca Sinigaglia, 49, made two ascents to the peak to deliver critical supplies to Natalia Nagovitsyna as rescue teams race against the clock to save her.
The Italian climber died on August 15 from low oxygen and hypothermia in the Tian Shan mountain range on the border with China.
He was bringing necessary items (such as a tent, sleeping bag, water, food, and a small gas cooker) to his friend Natalia, who had suffered a broken leg while climbing the mountain on August 12.
Luca, a cybersecurity specialist from Milan, was on his second mission to reach Natalia and was mere hundreds of meters from her sheltered location when he tragically lost his life.
He had been climbing with German mountaineer, Gunthe Siegmund, who returned to safety.
Luca’s body was later recovered and doctors suggested he died of cerebral edema – the swelling of the brain due to excess fluid accumulation.
Hailing his efforts as heroic, Natalia’s sister, Patrizia Sinigaglia, said: “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.”
His passing impacts the ongoing rescue efforts for Natalia, which have been hampered by persistent adverse weather, including gale-force winds and temperatures plummeting to minus 23C.
On one search operation, four rescuers were injured when a military helicopter was forced to crash-land.
Days afterward, on August 19, a drone was deployed over Natalia’s shelter and confirmed her survival, although there was no evidence of life on the subsequent Thursday.
The Russian Mountaineering Federation warned that a rescue would be a “miracle” as the conditions were making it “almost impossible to save her”.
Alexander Pyatnitsyn, the federation’s vice president, said: “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.”
Three Italian rescuers, Manuel Munari, Mario Sottile, and Michele Cucchi, had made plans to hire a private helicopter to attempt a rescue operation for Natalia, but as of Friday, they were still waiting for clearance from the president of Kyrgyzstan.
Pobeda Peak, also known as Jengish Chokusu, is a staggering 24,406 ft tall and is known for its extremely harsh and cold conditions, making it one of the most challenging and dangerous climbs in the world.
There are no reports of a climber ever having been rescued at this altitude.
