Communication breakdown: a group of tourists on snowmobiles disappeared in the Perm Region

For the second day in the Perm Region, the search continues for 13 tourists who disappeared while traveling by snowmobile to the highest mountain in the Middle Urals, Oslyanka. They were supposed to return to the gathering point on December 13, but this did not happen. At the same time, two other tourists who separated from the group ahead of time returned to the base on the same day. Rescuers moved to the alleged location of the missing, the search continued all Sunday and Monday, but did not bring results. The rescue operation is complicated by bad weather conditions and highly rugged terrain. A criminal case has been opened into the incident. Details can be found in the Izvestia article.

Tourists disappeared while climbing in Perm Region: what is known

In the Perm Region, the search continues for a tourist group that did not reach the gathering point at the appointed time in the village of Srednyaya Usva on December 13. Of the 15 people who went on snowmobiles to Mount Oslyanka, only two returned to the village on the same day.

According to reports, men aged 27 to 43 from the Sverdlovsk region are among the missing. As you know, they stopped contacting before descending from the top.

"The operational duty shift of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Emergency Situations in the Perm Region received information that an unregistered tourist group did not arrive at the gathering point at the appointed time at the address: village of Srednyaya Usva, Kizelovsky Municipal District," the Ministry of Emergency Situations in the region said in a statement.

Search for tourists in the Perm region

According to the Izvestia correspondent from the scene, rescuers went to the point where tourists can be: "According to preliminary data, it was possible to track the signal of mobile phones. The source is located near the Sukhaya River. A group of rescuers has moved there right now."

Later, in an interview with TASS, the volunteer said that the place where the signal of the missing phones was last recorded was identified: "Billing was requested, the signal was picked up, but this is not the signal of the phone that is online, but a signal from the point where the phone was last online," the source said.. According to other sources, the last contact with the missing was at about 16:00 on December 13. One of the tourists managed to call his wife and informed her that the group had reached the top and was starting their descent. After that, the connection was interrupted. The search for the missing began on Sunday, December 14, after relatives contacted them.

In total, more than 100 people and 46 pieces of equipment were involved in the search for tourists. Among them, rescuers, employees of the regional Ministry of Emergency Situations, members of the search and rescue teams "LizaAlert", "Squad named after Irina Bukhanova", volunteers, police officers and local residents. The search and rescue operation continues.

In addition, unmanned aerial vehicles, off-road vehicles and a helicopter are used to locate the missing.

It is reported that during the search, the route along which, according to preliminary data, the group was traveling was examined, as well as the taiga area adjacent to Mount Oslyanka with an area of more than 63 square kilometers. According to the main version, the group could have split up and lost their route due to bad weather - on the day of the disappearance, visibility was extremely low at the foot of the mountain, and by Monday it had already started snowing.

The difficulty in searching is also due to the lack of communication in the search area for a group of tourists.

Criminal case on the fact of missing tourists in the Perm region

As you know, investigators have already opened a criminal case into the fact of the unknown disappearance of a group of 13 tourists in the Perm Region.

It is also known that the investigators examined the recreation center where the tourists were before setting off along the route. The two who returned to the base, as well as their relatives, were interrogated.

What is known about climbing Mount Oslyanka

Mount Oslyanka is located in the north-east of the Perm Region, its height is 1119 m above sea level.

As Vadim Polozov, a tourist who had previously climbed this mountain, said earlier in an interview with TASS, the route where the tourists disappeared is quite simple and suitable for beginners, but difficulties could arise due to the weather.

"The route is not dangerous, even quite simple. But bad weather conditions make it more difficult. <...> In winter, as a rule, everything gets complicated. There may be a blizzard, visibility is reduced down to 5 m. And if there is no electronic navigation in such weather, then it is very easy to get lost," Polozov said.

He also added that it is possible to get to the mountain by snowmobile in a day.

It is also important to pay attention to the landscape of the area — the kurumnik (accumulation of large stone blocks) forming "stone rivers" can complicate the path in conditions of poor visibility. In addition, there is a sharp decrease in temperature at night in winter, as well as a large amount of snow, which quickly covers its tracks.

As told to RIA Novosti in the regional detachment "Lisa Alert", tourists had not disappeared on the mountain before.