241 Pizza

Finding himself alone in one of the most remote regions of China, Mr Zverev made his home in caves along the banks. “I had water to drink and I just didn’t feel hungry.”

However, the weather frightened him. He was dressed only in trousers, a T-shirt and a cagoule. For the first few days it rained and he was chilly. Then the sun came out and he was able to keep warm. But a few days ago, sandstorms began, sending the temperature plummeting. “Every evening, I made a bed for myself from tree branches, tried not to get cold, to preserve heat to keep the body warm.”

A low point came on September 11, when he spotted a rescue helicopter that did not see him. He said that he had no means to signal to the search team. Each day he climbed to the top of the ravine through which the river raged to try to catch the attention of the rescuers. Then yesterday morning a helicopter saw unusual movement on the ground and landed to investigate further.

The hunt for the missing Russians began on September 2 when they failed to make a prearranged meeting with their Chinese guide. As the search gained momentum, President Putin telephoned his Chinese counterpart, Hu Jintao, to ask if he would open China’s tightly controlled airspace to allow a Russian rescue aircraft to land at the nearby Hotan airport.

Permission was given for the aircraft to enter some of the most militarily sensitive areas in China, and the rescuers arrived, but the aircraft was not permitted to take part in the search.

Mr Zverev said that the stretch of river that the team was navigating was remote and uncharted. “It was clear to me from the first day that we would not be able to complete our chosen route. This was the most difficult section of the river, and if the tragedy had not happened when it did it would have happened the next day.”

The banks of the river are a popular tourist destination for Chinese seeking the thrill of remote China where the minority Muslim population lives almost untouched by the modern world. The river is also famed as a source of jade, one of the most precious stones in China.

Foreigners like to visit the area for its remoteness and to glimpse the lives of Uighurs living in villages along the river banks. One Chinese tour guide said of the river: “It is a rushing torrent. No one would dare to go near the water.”

Last Saturday, searchers found the bodies of two Russians. A day later they found a third. All the men had drowned. The men were identified as Sergei Chernik and his son, Ivan, and Vladimir Smetannikov. The search continues for the remaining missing member of the party, Dmitri Tishchenko.

Against the odds

— Juliane Köpcke, 17, a German, was the sole survivor of an aircraft crash in the Amazon in 1971. She trekked for ten days through the jungle before being rescued

— Colby Coombs, Ritt Kellogg and Tom Walker were knocked 800ft (240m) down the face of Mount Foraker, Alaska, by an avalanche in 1992. Only Mr Coombs survived and, over four days, inched his way back down to safety

— Mauro Prosperi, a 39-year-old Italian, became lost during the Marathon des Sables in the Sahara in 1994. He walked for nine days through the desert

— In 2004 Eric LeMarque, a snowboarder, spent seven days in freezing temperatures in the Californian High Sierras

Sources: Times archives

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