Kyrgyzstan, NATO to train rescuers

BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan, Oct. 19 (UPI) -- Kyrgyzstan will create a center for training alpine rescuers with NATO's support, the country's president, Askar Akayev, told local media Tuesday.

Akayev told the Russian Itar-Tass news agency the center had been proposed in talks with NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, who currently is on tour in Central Asia.

"We also decided the center will be transformed in due time into a base for training peacekeeping servicemen," Akayev said.

Last summer, at least seven mountaineers, including one Russian and six Czech nationals, were killed in a glacial avalanche in the Tyan Shan mountains in eastern Kyrgyzstan. The avalanche occurred as mountaineers were climbing the 22,998-foot peak Khan Tengri.

Two more Russian nationals and three Ukrainian nationals went missing in the incident, Itar-Tass reported.