Azerbaijani climber dies in Himalayas

/AzerNews/

By Nigar Orujova

Azerbaijan's famous mountain climber Murad Ashurly has died in the Himalayas.

The news of his death has shocked Azerbaijani sports community.

Ashurly, 42, made a successful ascent to the mountain Ama Dablam (6856 m) as part of a commercial exhibition of the Seven Summits Club along with eight other climbers. He went missing during the descent.

Later, one of the participants of the exhibition talked about the death of Azerbaijani climber.

Noel Hanna wrote in a social network: "The last 30 hours were the worst in my life. Yesterday morning at 9:30 am we went from Camp 2 on Ama Dablam, to descend to Camp 1. I went first, the rest of the group was behind me. I was coming down for about 30 minutes, and then this nightmare happened. I just finished the descent on the rope (a lot of old ropes and a new one) and went to the next, when the rope on which after me went down after my friend Murad, broke up. Murad fell down to 300-400 meters to the rocks and snow. We started the rescue work immediately, but the weather was very bad. Early this morning I brought his body out of the mountains to Kathmandu on a rescue helicopter. I lost my favorite partner-climber and my friend. My condolences to Olga and the entire family of Murad."

Murad Ashurly was working as a top manager of one of the leading telecommunications companies in the United States. He was a member of Azerbijan's Mountaineering Federation and experienced climbers.

In 2007, he successfully conquered McKinley the highest peak of North America. He was the third Azerbaijani to climb Mount Everest and Kangchenjunga, completing the Seven Summits challenge in 2013.

Murad was the cousin of Israfil Ashurly , the first Azerbaijani who climbed Mount Everest and Kangchenjunga.