Hero mountaineer freezes to death after going back to help fellow climber who broke her leg

An Italian climber has died on a mountain in Kyrgyzstan after volunteering to help a friend who had become stuck on a mountain after breakin...

An Italian climber has died on a mountain in Kyrgyzstan after volunteering to help a friend who had become stuck on a mountain after breaking her leg. 

Luca Sinigaglia, 49, has been hailed a hero after returning to the summit of the 25,000 ft Pobeda Peak in the Tian Shan massif to carry critical supplies to fellow climber, Natalia Nagovitsyna. 

However, Sinigaglia, a cyber-security expert from Milan - died last Friday from hypothermia and exposure to low oxygen levels after failing to reach Nagovitsyna during his second ascent.

Russian climber Nagovitsyna, 47, became stranded on August 12 when she fractured her leg during her descent.

As a massive rescue operation began, fellow mountaineers volunteered to help bring her down, including Sinigaglia.

He had managed to reach Nagovitsyna with a German climber named Gunther Siegmund and provided her with food and equipment before becoming trapped in a blizzard. 

Siegmund was able to descend to safety, while Sinigaglia's body was later recovered from an ice cave, where he is believed to have collapsed from exhaustion at about 23,000 ft. 

Meanwhile, the attempts to reach Nagovitsyna continue, but rescue efforts have been hampered by bad weather, with temperatures as low as minus 23C. 

A drone flew over the Russian climber on August 19 and confirmed she was still alive, but there were no signs of life on Thursday and her tent appeared to have been torn by strong winds. 

Pobeda Peak, also known as Jengish Chokusu, rises to 24,406 ft. No injured climber has ever been rescued from this altitude.

The Russian Mountaineering Federation warned that a rescue would be a 'miracle', with the federation's vice president Alexander Pyatnitsyn saying: 'It will be almost impossible to save her.

'There's a three-kilometre-long ridge, and it takes at least 30 people in such a situation to rescue a person from there.'

Nagovitsyna had previously suffered a tragedy on another expedition in 2021 when her husband Sergey died of a stroke at 22,630 ft on Khan Tengri, a neighbouring peak in the same massif.

Sinigaglia had helped the couple during their descent before Sergey died. 

The Italian climber's sister Patrizia said that the experience made Sinigaglia and Nagovitsyna very close. 

'After that they spoke often, agreeing every so often to meet up on some mountain around the world', Patrizia said. 

The tragedy involving the climber comes as a man plunged to his death from a knife edge ridge in Wales last week. 

The walker, 36, fell off Crib Goch, a notoriously dangerous precipice on the approach to Snowdon, which Welsh speakers call Yr Wyddfa, last Saturday. 

North Wales Police and the Llanberis Mountain Rescue Team rushed to the location by helicopter but pronounced the man dead at the scene.

A spokesperson for the force said: 'We are saddened to confirm that a 36-year-old man has died following a fall from Crib Goch in Eryri National Park on Saturday, 16 August.

'Emergency services, including North Wales Police and the Llanberis Mountain Rescue Team, responded to reports of a man falling from the ridge at approximately 11:30am.

'The man was recovered from the mountain by helicopter but was sadly pronounced deceased at the scene.

'Formal identification has not yet taken place, but the man's next of kin have been informed, and the coroner has been notified.'

Inspector Jamie Owens added: 'My deepest condolences remain with the man's family at this incredibly difficult time. Our investigation into the circumstances of this tragic incident is ongoing.'

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