Five Russian climbers killed in deadly fall from world’s seventh-highest peak

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Five Russian mountaineers died after falling from the world's seventh-highest peak, the expedition organiser said on Tuesday.

They went missing on 6 October during an attempt to summit the 8,167m Mount Dhaulagiri in Nepal.

The bodies were found at an altitude of 7,100m by a rescue helicopter on Tuesday, Pemba Jangbu Sherpa of I AM Trekking & Expeditions in Kathmandu said.

The victims were identified as Alexander Dusheyko, Oleg Kruglov, Vladimir Chistikov, Mikhail Nosenko, and Dmitrii Shpilevoi, The Himalayan Times reported.

The mountaineers fell from 7,700m, said an official with Nepal’s tourism department.

Two of the climbers had managed to scale the summit while the others were returning without getting to the top. They departed from the high camp on Sunday at around 6am local time and last communicated with the base camp at around 11am, according to the organiser.

It has not yet been decided if or when and how the bodies would be brought down from the mountain, an operation which would require extensive planning, manpower and equipment.

The sixth member of the team, who had abandoned the summit attempt, was rescued from Camp 1 and brought to Kathmandu, according to local media reports.

The autumn climbing season, which is not as popular as the spring season, began last month. Mountains are less crowded and the permit fees are also lower during this season.

Dhaulagiri’s peak was first scaled in 1960 by a Swiss-Austrian team and has since been climbed by hundreds of adventure seekers.

Nepal has eight of the world’s 14 highest peaks. Until 14 May last year, the country generated $5.8m (£4.43m) in annual revenue from mountain tourism.