Haunting video of climber who broke leg 22,000ft up mountain resurfaces as rescue effort is abandoned

A chilling video of a Russian climber currently stranded 22,965 feet up a mountain has resurfaced online.

Natalia Nagovitsina has been trapped in freezing temperatures of -23C for nearly two weeks, after a broken leg left her unable to descend from Victory Peak in Kyrgyzstan.

Located in central Asia's Tian Shan mountain range Victory Peak (Jengish Chokusu) stands at 24,406ft, and is considered to be an extremely difficult to summit.

There has been numerous attempts to rescue Nagovitsina over the past 10 days, however, they have all been called off due to poor weather, with an Italian climber even dying after delivering supplies to the 47-year-old Russian.

Meanwhile the head of the Kyrgyz Mountaineering Federation has said it was 'highly likely' that Nagovitsina had died.

Natalia Nagovitsina has been stranded with a broken leg on a Kyrgyz mountain (YouTube/Dmitry Sinitsyn)

"She has been at an altitude of seven thousand meters for more than nine days," he explained to the BBC.

"This is practically incompatible with normal life, because at this altitude the body begins to die by 10 percent daily due to exhaustion and loss of strength."

Meanwhile a chilling video clip of Nagovitsina has since resurfaced online, showing the mountaineer explaining why she was 'not afraid to die'.

The clip, taken from a 2022 documentary titled 'Stay with Khan Tengri: Tragedy on the Mountain' documents Nagovitsina and her husband Sergei's attempts to reach Khan-Tengri Peak, the second highest mountain in the Tian Shan range.

During the couple's ascent, Nagovitsina's husband becomes injured, with the couple's ground team urging her to descend the mountain – which she refused.

"Natasha, you need to go down yourself. You won't be able to help him in any way. Do you understand me? Over," the rescue team can be heard saying in one clip, to which a defiant Nagovitsina answers: "I understand everything, but I will not leave him alone."

She would return to the mountain a yeat later to leave a memorial plaque for her husband (YouTube/Dmitry Sinitsyn)

Nagovitsina later makes her feelings about death clear, saying that she would prefer death over losing a limb and being forced to give up mountaineering.

"You know, I was not afraid to die. I was afraid to be disabled, that I will get frostbite, they will take away my arms and legs, and what will I do," she said in the documentary.

"In fact, this is it. Yes, this is the worst punishment. This is what worried me a lot and that we die - no."

Rescuers would eventually reach the couple's location, but a cruel twist of fate would see a delirious Sergei, who was believed to have suffered a stroke, separated from the rescue team and fall to his death.