Poor weather hampers search for Russian and two other tourists on Villarrica volcano in Chile - Russian Foreign Ministry
MOSCOW. Nov 12 (Interfax) - The search for Russian Dmitry Sivenkov and two other foreign tourists who went missing while hiking on Chile's Villarrica volcano, one of the most active volcanoes in Latin America, has brought no results so far, the Russian embassy in Chile reports.
"Despite the fact that the Chilean authorities have been doing everything possible to find the missing tourists, they have not yet been found. The search is being complicated by poor weather conditions," the Russian Foreign Ministry's Information and Press Department said in a statement on Monday.
Search and rescue helicopters will be used as soon as the meteorological situation allows, it says
The Chilean side informed the Russian embassy that the incident occurred in the Pucon natural park about 800 km south of Santiago.
One of the missing tourists was identified as Dmitry Sivenkov, 32, a native of the Belgorod region, who has been in Chile since September 9, 2012.
On the morning of November 7, the tourists made an attempt to climb the Villarrica volcano rising 2,500 m above sea level. They did not coordinate their plans with relevant services in breach of existing rules, according to official police reports.
The group failed to return by night, as initially planned.
"The embassy maintains permanent contact with the local authorities, the rescue operation's headquarters, the emergency services and special police unites trained to operate in difficult terrain," the ministry said.
Earlier, the BBC TV and radio company reported with reference to Chilean media that the three missing tourists were a Russian, a Frenchman aged 25 and an Italian aged 25.