High Altitude Rescue of Tourists in Pamirs

[Christian77]

Four tourists were rescued near Sarez Lake, one with pretty bad altitude sickness:

The tourists did have an emergency location beacon that sent out a distress signal, which is not a common tool for independent trekkers to have here. These are a good idea if you are going to an isolated area: https://www.outsidepursuits.com/best-pe ... or-beacon/

This rescue was done by the Tajikistan Committee for Emergency Situations with help from the AKDN NGO. The AKDN is very active in this area, but elsewhere in Tajikistan you may find yourself being rescued by just the government people at Emergency Situations (and they don't have the mountain skills and resources that the AKDN people have).

Altitude sickness can happen to anyone. The guy who was sick was 23 years old and very likely just finished several years of military service. Being in great shape doesn't affect your vulnerability. No word, however, on how quickly this group gained elevation... Take your time to be on the safe side.

This is not too far from where 4 American trust-fund kayakers were rescued with altitude sickness, one of whom promptly got drunk and tried to beat up a police officer in Dushanbe. I assume these trekkers were more grateful.