Body of climber who died in 1974 found on mountain summit in Georgia - ministry
TBILISI. Oct 5 (Interfax) - The body of a mountaineer was found at an altitude of 3,000 meters 39 years after he died in climbing one of Georgia's highest mountains, according to the Georgian Interior Ministry.
The body of Nenad Culic, a Croatian, was found by a Georgian search party on one of the summits of Ushba, a mountain in Greater Caucasus, on August 27, the ministry said in a statement. Culic died in 1974.
It was taken to Mestia, administrative center of Svaneti region, where it was identified.
"After legal procedures, the Croatian mountaineer's body and belongings were handed over to his wife," the statement said. Culic's wife, Liliana Kner, who had arrived in Georgia, said she was going to take the body to Croatia within days.
Many mountaineers consider Ushba, which lies about 1.5 kilometers from the Russian border, the most difficult Caucasus mountain to ascend because of its steep slopes and unstable weather.