The bodies of three mountaineers reported disappeared in the mountains of Azerbaijan found 4 months later

The bodies of three Azerbaijani mountaineers – Babur Huseynov, Namin Bunyatova and Farida Djebrailzade – were found in the mountains in the Shahdag National Park in Azerbaijan four months after the searches for the missing young people began.

A criminal case citing “negligence, which caused grave consequences through lack of caution” (Article 314.2 of the Criminal Code) has been launched with the investigation into their deaths.

The three mountaineers arrived in the Shahdag National Park in the Guba region of Azerbaijan on December 23, 2017 with the intention of ascending Mount Tufandag.

Their communication signal was lost on December 26. Searches were conducted by employees of two ministries – Emergency Situations and Ecology and Natural Resources, as well as volunteer alpinists. But they were not found until May 16, 2018.

The dead mountaineers were members of the Gilavar Club – Air & Extreme Sports Club. The permission to climb was issued by the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources.

The majority of Azerbaijani mountaineers agree that the ascent itself should not have taken place. Arguments are reduced to two points:

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• The disappeared mountaineers were not professionals
• Mount Tufandag poses a high risk of avalanches and therefore should not be ascended in winter.

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“These mountains are not suitable for winter mountaineering because of their geographical location, climatic conditions and terrain. Therefore, Tfan [Tufandag – editor] and Bazarduzi are not ascended in winter, the classic routes in these mountains turns into “Russian roulette”, Emil Khalilov, an athlete with a third rank in mountaineering, writes on his Facebook page.