Updated

An avalanche struck a mountaineering exercise involving members of several Russian security-agency special units in the Bezengi Gorge in Kabardino-Balkaria on September 6, killing at least 13 people, according to Kommersant sources cited by Meduza. The avalanche broke off Mount Mizhirgi and buried a group of 33 climbers on the slope; ten made it down on their own while six others were injured and hospitalized. By the morning of September 9, rescuers from Russia's Emergency Situations Ministry had recovered the bodies of 13 dead climbers, with search efforts continuing for four more people still missing. Most of the dead were National Guard troops who had traveled to the region for training, and rescue operations have been complicated by ongoing avalanche risk in the area.