Quite possibly correct, but rescues have been undertaken on Everest above 8,000 meters. Interesting story here:
http://climb.mountainzone.com/2001/story/html/hahn_everest.html
Thats the one I was talking about earlier in the thread... Time flies! I thought it was last year or two years ago... Not 5!
Interesting story indeed.
Note that the rescuee could walk. Yes, in that remarkable story of rescue above 8000m, the nearly-given-up-for-dead rescuee could walk, talk, rappel, etc.! Now contrast that with this thread, where the decedant wasn't going anywhere under his own power.
Your story clearly showsthe Russians were revivable. They were not dying, or near death as this person was. This person was there long enough to be mostly frozen and unrevivable. He was dying. The guy with no legs certainly knows what the difference between revivable and not is. So did the sherpas and the others on the team. Note! Your story says if the Russians weren't revivable, they would have been left there.