[Anchor]

While the shock of the massive floods in Nepal has not yet subsided, a large-scale avalanche in southwestern Russia has left 11 climbers dead. Six others remain missing, and rescue operations are facing difficulties due to the rugged terrain and the risk of further avalanches.

Reporter Gwak Sang-eun has the details.

[Reporter]

Accompanied by a thunderous roar, a massive mound of snow cascades down the mountain peak.

Huge masses of snow and ice stir up a cloud of dust and sweep down to the base of the mountain in an instant.

[Oh, man. Oh, my god.]

On the afternoon of the 6th local time, a large-scale avalanche occurred on Mount Mizhirgi in the Bezengi Gorge of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic in southwestern Russia.

It engulfed a group of 33 people climbing the area. While 10 managed to escape on their own, 11 were killed and 6 were injured.

The status of the remaining 6 people is still unconfirmed.

Russian authorities are searching for the missing, but they are struggling due to the rugged terrain and the risk of additional avalanches.

[Kantemir Berov / Regional Spokesperson, Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations: Currently, more than 50 personnel have been deployed to the search operation. However, we are facing difficulties due to the rugged terrain and the risk of avalanches.]

The Bezengi Gorge, where the accident occurred, is a prominent high-altitude region in Russia densely clustered with peaks over 5,000 meters and glaciers.

The exact cause of this avalanche has not yet been determined, but the impact of climate change is being cited as a factor.

As glaciers in the northern Caucasus region, which spanned about 1,382 square kilometers in 2000, rapidly melted by 23% over 20 years due to global warming, large-scale mountain disasters have continued to occur in the Caucasus area.

In 2002, the collapse of the Kolka Glacier in North Ossetia, Russia, engulfed a village and left more than 120 people dead or missing, and in 2023, a massive landslide caused by melting glaciers in Shovi, northern Georgia, killed 33 people.

(Video Editing: Lee Seung-yeol, Video Source: X @BowesChay · X @irene_makarenko)