Tourists from Belarus discovered suspected human remains on the Severtsev glacier in the Talgar district of the Almaty region. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Kursiv Media.
The coordinates of the site, photos and videos were sent to emergency services, but the question of evacuation remains open. Anastasia Akhmetova reported the find on Facebook.
According to her, on August 16, her acquaintances from Belarus completed a two-week hike in the mountains and after descending reported that they saw human remains on the glacier.
"On Sunday, August 16, my Belarusian friends, mountain tourists, descended after a two-week trek through our mountains and told me and showed a video that they found the remains of a tourist on the Severtsev glacier," Akhmetova wrote.
After that, according to her, the information was passed to city services. They allegedly could not reach 112, so the tourists contacted 109, and then sent coordinates, photos and videos to WhatsApp.
Akhmetova claims that information about a deceased person in this area appeared in tourist reports of a Russian group for 2025. Belarusian tourists saw this information before the hike, but assumed that the remains had already been evacuated.
"They were sure that the body had already been removed from the glacier," the author of the post noted.
According to her, at least two tourist groups could have passed by the site of the discovery this summer.
Nearby, the Belarusians also met tourists from St. Petersburg. They allegedly said that they found documents in a backpack lying nearby and took them to hand over to the Ministry of Emergency Situations. Whether they managed to hand over the documents to rescuers is unknown to Akhmetova.
The author of the post called for the remains to be evacuated as soon as possible, to identify the deceased and hand him over to relatives.
"Personally, I believe that leaving the remains there is un-Christian, un-Islamic, and generally inhuman. This is someone's son, someone's father, someone's brother," she wrote.
In her opinion, if necessary, a DNA examination should also be carried out.
Later, Akhmetova reported that she had reached the Department of Emergency Situations of the Almaty region. There, according to her, they promised to clarify what measures would be taken.
After that, she published an update and stated that the Department of Emergency Situations had already transferred the information to the police.
"The regional emergency department says that the police have been informed and they are waiting for a letter from the police so that rescuers can provide assistance. There is no letter yet," Akhmetova reported.
She expressed concern that with the onset of autumn, work could become more difficult due to snow.
The editorial board of Kursiv contacted the Police Department of the Almaty region for comment. At the time of publication, no response was received.