Rescuers found another missing Russian tourist alive yesterday
evening in northwest China, hours after finding the first survivor
from a group of six Russians who went missing on a rafting trip a
month ago.
The rescuers informed the rescue headquarters in Hotan, Xinjiang
Uygur Autonomous Region, by satellite phone saying the Russian was
found at 8:00pm, according to Zhang Shaoyun, deputy head of the
headquarters.
However, the phone connection was cut before the survivor's
identity could be confirmed due to poor weather conditions, Zhang
said.
The man will be taken to Hotan by helicopter today, weather
permitting, as it was too late for the helicopter to fly when the
rescuers called, he added.
The first survivor Alexander Zverev, 35, was rescued at about
10:30am yesterday on the banks of the upper reaches of the
Yurungkax River. He said he had only drunk river water and had not
eaten any food in the 25 days since his boat capsized in the river
on August 28.
Doctors said Zverev, weighing 58 kg, a full 24 kg less than a
month ago, was suffering from dehydration and malnutrition.
Zverev said Sergey Chernik, 47, and Ivan Chernik, 25, who were
father and son, fell into the river and drowned on August 24, four
days after they started rafting.
He and the remaining three members of the group placed the
bodies under one of the catamarans on the river bank but were
forced to continue rafting in the other boat after failing to find
a way out by land.
However, their boat capsized on August 28 Zverev said two
members of the team were engulfed in whirlpools but he managed to
swim to the bank and survived. Zverev had thought they were dead -
the body of a third man, Vladimir Smetannikov, 25, has already been
found.
The second survivor is either Andrey Pautov or Dmitry
Tishchenko.
(Xinhua News Agency September 22, 2007)