{"id":1112545,"date":"2026-07-26T15:49:18","date_gmt":"2026-07-26T15:49:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1112545\/"},"modified":"2026-07-26T15:49:18","modified_gmt":"2026-07-26T15:49:18","slug":"five-climbers-feared-dead-as-violent-storm-hits-europes-highest-mountain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1112545\/","title":{"rendered":"Five climbers feared dead as violent storm hits Europe\u2019s highest mountain"},"content":{"rendered":"

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From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.<\/p>\n

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Five climbers \u200bare thought to have died on Russia’s Mount Elbrus, the highest mountain in Europe.<\/p>\n

The Bosnian climbers were being caught in a \u2060violent storm, a climbing rescue service said on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Russian rescuers continue to search for the bodies.<\/p>\n

Russia’s Emergencies Ministry said \u200btwo other climbers had been saved from the storm, \u2060they were evacuated from the mountain and taken for medical care.<\/p>\n

It \u2060said the bodies of two further \u200bmembers \u2060of the same group had \u200cbeen located on the mountain at an altitude of 5,350 metres (17,550 feet) \u200cand would be evacuated when \u200cweather conditions allowed. The search for the three other bodies is ongoing, the ministry added, without \u2060specifying their nationality.<\/p>\n

Mount Elbrus, which rises to 5,642 metres (18,510 feet) just north of the border with Georgia, is infamous for sudden changes in weather and climbing conditions.<\/p>\n

The dormant volcano is the tenth-most prominent peak in the world.<\/p>\n

\"AA cable car running above the slopes of Mount Elbrus near Terskol, Russia’s Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (AFP\/Getty)<\/p>\n

A cable car system allows visitors to reach heights of 12,500ft with relative ease. From that point, those wishing to reach the summit can do so from a variety of routes.<\/p>\n

Although not considered a technically difficult climb, the route is dangerous because of the elevation and strong, gusty winds. On average, between 15 and 30 people die every year on the mountain.<\/p>\n

Mapped: Mount Elbrus<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Bosnian media reported that the seven members of \u200cthe climbing expedition were residents of \u200bthe central town of Zenica and \u200cincluded a married \u2060couple and a doctor who worked \u2060at the local hospital.<\/p>\n

Russian media reported that adverse weather \u200cconditions including strong \u200bwinds had complicated \u200cthe search and \u200brecovery operations.<\/p>\n

In January a huge avalanche swept through a ski resort on the mountain, sending tourists fleeing in panic.<\/p>\n

Eyewitness footage shows the moment a cascade of snow tumbles down the mountainside on Mount Elbrus on 15 January.<\/p>\n

The wall of snow hurtles towards the recorder who appears to be standing in a car park, before the screen is swallowed by white as the avalanche consumes them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1112546,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5174],"tags":[2000,299,5187,44888,729],"class_list":["post-1112545","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-eu","tag-eu","tag-europe","tag-european","tag-horizontal","tag-nature"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116987074145400463","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1112545","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1112545"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1112545\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1112546"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1112545"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1112545"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1112545"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}