Climber marooned near crater of Eurasia’s highest active volcano found dead

Ilya Tsvetkov, 35, was stranded after reaching the top of 4,750 metre Klyuchevskaya Sopka in Russia’s Kamchatka peninsula. Volcanic activity and atrocities weather combined to prevent several rescue attempts from reaching the marooned mountaineer. 

Father-of-five Tsvetkov was hit by altitude sickness after reaching the crater which was spewing extreme toxic gas and vapour emissions.

His fellow climber descended to raise the alarm but there was an agonising delay in reaching him due to atrocious conditions. 

A team arrived from his native Vladivostok to try and save him. 

A team of mountain climbers, long-term friends of Ilya arrived from his native Vladivostok to try and save him. Picture: social media 

'We very much wanted to believe in a miracle,' they said in a message. 

'Sadly there are no miracles, and Ilya has passed away.'

A picture showed his body being brought down the snow-covered slopes of the volcano.

Climber marooned near crater of Eurasia’s highest active volcano found dead. Pictures: Kam.cod.ru