Two Georgian Climbers Die on Mt.Ushba

Two Georgian climbers from a Georgian-Dutch expedition to climb the 4,710-meter Ushba mountain in Georgia?s Caucasus Mountains have died.

Rescuers were finally able to recover Zaliko Kikodze and Merab Khabazi?s corpses on July 20 after five days of bad weather conditions resulted in fruitless attempts to rescue the climbers. A third climber, Gela Otarasvhili, survived.

Earlier on July 19 two Dutch members of the expedition were rescued. They were camped in a different location not far from the place where the Georgian climbers were trapped.

On July 18 both of climbers were alive and visible from the rescuer helicopter, which failed to approach the alpinists.

News about disappearance of the two Dutch and three Georgian climbers broke on July 16. They were trying to reach Ushba?s peak through one of the most difficult of the fifty available routes.

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