The Georgian interior ministry said that its mountain rescuers have found the body of a Croatian climber, Nenad Chulich, 39 years after he went missing in an avalanche on Ushba, one of the most notable peaks of the Caucasus mountain in Georgia.
The famous Croatian climber went missing and was presumed dead along with three other fellows in 1974. The bodies of two climbers were found right after the avalanche while the third body was found in 2012. The Georgian rescuers were tipped off this month by climbers about the possible whereabouts of the fourth body, reports Xinhua.
Local TV footage Saturday showed that rescuers found the remaining items of the Croatian climber on an Ushba glacier before taking his remains.
The body of Chulich has been transferred to Mestia in north-western Georgia. The Georgian authorities have reportedly notified the family of the Croatian.
Though it does not rank in the top-10 highest peaks along the major Caucasus mountain range, the 4,690-metre Mt. Ushba is considered the most difficult to ascend in the Caucasus.
John Garford Cokklin and Ulrich Almer scaled the south summit of Mt. Ushba's twin peaks in 1888 while a joint German-Swiss-Austrian expedition ascended its north summit in 1903.