- Title: RUSSIA: THE FRESH GHOSTS OF BESLAN SCHOOL SIEGE HAUNT THE TOWN'S RESIDENTS
- Date: 9th September 2004
- Summary: (EU) BESLAN, REPUBLIC OF NORTH OSSETIA, RUSSIA (SEPTEMBER 08, 2004) (REUTERS) 1. SLV PAN BESLAN SCHOOL; SCHOOL RUINS; SCU WOMAN LOOKING OUT OF WINDOW THE URMANOVA FAMILY'S APARTMENT AND CRYING; BACK OF CRYING WOMAN LOOKING AT BESLAN SCHOOL 0.42 2. HAS SCHOOL FROM URMANOVA FAMILY APARTMENT 0.47 3. (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) LIDIA URMANOVA, CRYING AND SAYING: "My little Masha is missing and as for my little Yanna, well, they just identified her body and are going to bring her home." 0.55 4. PHOTOGRAPH OF 9-YEAR-OLD YANNA 1.04 5. (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) LIDIA URMANOVA, RELATIVE OF BESLAN SCHOOL SIEGE VICTIMS, SAYING: "My son saw everything. He saw Yanna faint from her diabetes. And now I have lost my daughter, two grandchildren, daughter-in-law and, now, I can't find another granddaughter." 1.18 6. SCU PHOTOGRAPH OF MASHA 1.23 7. (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) LIDIA URMANOVA, CRYING AND SAYING "My daughter was so young. She would have been thirty two this September." 1.35 8. SCU PHOTOGRAPH OF DAUGHTER AND SISTER-IN-LAW 1.41 9. (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) LIDIA URMANOVA, CRYING AND SAYING "I was always trying to understand why they had placed so much security around the police building. Maybe they had some information and were afraid that the police station might be attacked. But now, look how it turned out." 2.02 10. HAS DESTROYED SCHOOL FROM URMANOVA WINDOW; SCU STILL PHOTOGRAPH OF LIDIA WITH GRAND-DAUGHTERS 2.36 11. (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) LIDIA URMANOVA, CRYING AND SAYING "My son who was there heard the bandits say that your president didn't even think about sending the Red Cross. They also said that there wouldn't be any rescue operation, that they would die like... 3.04 12. SCU STILL PHOTOGRAPH OF DEAD GIRLS 3.09 13. SLV WOMEN WALKING ACROSS APARTMENT COURTYARD; SLV AMBULANCE ARRIVING AT APARTMENT; MV PEOPLE PULLING COFFIN OUT OF AMBULANCE 3.44 14. MV URMANOVA FAMILY AND FRIENDS RECEIVING COFFIN; MV PEOPLE CRYING AND STANDING BY COFFIN; MV PEOPLE CRYING OVER BED OF DEAD BOY; SCU PHOTOGRAPH OF DEAD BOY; MV PEOPLE COMFORTING ONE ANOTHER AND CRYING (8 SHOTS) 4.51 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 24th September 2004 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: BESLAN,NORTHOSSETIA,RUSSIA
- Country: Russia
- Reuters ID: LVA81W8PH3V7J60TP24GLAOZKFMF
- Story Text: Beslan, town of the dead.
The fresh ghosts of Beslan haunt the town's
residents, so many of them related to one or more of the
victims of the siege which shocked this North Ossetia
region, Russia and the world.
More than 1,200 people were taken hostage at a local
school in Beslan, near Chechnya. Russian officials say 326
of them were killed and 727 wounded.
Only 210 bodies have been identified.
Brothers and sisters, mothers and children, friends and
neighbours are amongst the dead and the missing.
One woman cries as she sits alone and stares out the
window overlooking the quiet spectre of the school which
stands as a dark and permanent reminder of the horror and
the pain which unravelled there just a few days ago.
The Urmanova family lived near the besieged school. Four
members of their family were killed, one is still missing.
Lidia Urmanova waits at home, hoping her granddaughter,
Masha, will walk through the door soon but fearing she will
only cross the threshold as another lifeless body. The body
of her 12-year-old granddaughter Yanna was identified at
the morgue on Wednesday (September 8).
"My little Masha is missing and as for my little Yanna,
well, they just identified her body and are going to bring
her home," she says.
Her surviving son is traumatised by the event.
"My son saw everything. He saw Yanna faint from her
diabetes. And now I have lost my daughter, two
grandchildren, daughter-in-law and, now, I can't find
another granddaughter," said Urmanova.
The joy she feels at her son's survival is overshadowed
by the loss of his wife and sister, Lidia's daughter.
"My daughter was so young. She would have been 32 this
September."
Authorities have blamed the hostage crisis on
"international terrorists". Critics blame Russia's failure
to contain the Chechen problem.
Russia's top general threatened on Wednesday (September
8) to attack "terrorist bases" anywhere in the world.
Security services put a 10 million US dollar bounty on two
Chechen rebels they blame for last week's siege.
The FSB security service announced the reward for
information leading to the "neutralisation" of Aslan
Maskhadov and Shamil Basayev, two Chechen separatist
leaders who are household names in Russia after a decade of
conflict in the mainly Muslim southern province.
But this is little consolation for those who lost
everything in that school.
In Vladikavkaz, capital of North Ossetia where the
school is located, an angry crowd of around 2,500 protested
against the president, forcing him to promise to sack his
administration.
The siege and ensuing gunbattle were the latest in a
string of attacks against Russian forces since August 1,
when Maskhadov promised to intensify the war against
Moscow's rule, although his London-based representative has
denied he was behind Beslan.
Lidia does not criticise the government directly. But
she does wonder if the local police did misjudge the threat
and fail to protect its own people by spending more time
fortifying their own bases rather than foiling possible
attacks on civilians.
She says she noticed that in the past weeks the local
police had heavily fortified their station.
"I was always trying to understand why they had placed
so much security around the police building. Maybe they
had some information and were afraid that the police
station might be attacked. But now, look how it turned out."
Her son has said it was surprising that at least some
of the hostages emerged alive.
"My son who was there heard the bandits say that your
president didn't even think about sending the Red Cross.
They also said that there wouldn't be any rescue operation,
that they would die like dogs from starvation and lack of
water. Why did this happen?" She asks, still incredulous.
But as she speaks, the body of her daughter Yanna is
carried into her home.
Lydia Ormanova has already buried her daughter Larisa
and granddaughter Julia. She found Yanna's body at the
morgue.
Tributes to her grandson are still standing in the room
next door.
Yet tragedy keeps its tight grip on the family,
overlooking the house of death, as the Lidia still awaits
news of her missing granddaughter Masha.
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