The North Caucasus is famous for its beautiful natural landscapes, majestic mountains, turquoise rivers, and clean air. One of these places was the Karmadon Gorge in North Ossetia.
Dangerous mountains
Nature often carries a deadly threat.The North Ossetian gorges have always been famous for their beauty; they were and remain the favorite places of rest for both the local population and visiting tourists. There are numerous recreation centers, mountaineering and almost ideal conditions for active recreation. In addition, they are often used for field shooting movies. The diversity and pristine nature allows you to capture excellent plans and prospects, which is so important for motion pictures. That was the Karmadon gorge. 12 years ago it attracted to itself its main attraction - the Kolka glacier. Located on the very top of the gorge, on clear days it allowed us to see a rainbow glow over the whole surrounding territory. This is the gorge chosen for his filming famous Russian actor and director Sergei Bodrov Jr.
On the eve of the tragedy
Old-timers have always feared this hanging overthe entire gorge of the glacial mass, however, glaciologists (people who are observing the glaciers) gave rather optimistic forecasts. In addition, the inhabitants of the village of Upper Karmadon during its long history did not recall any disturbing phenomena. Nothing foreshadowed the drama that unfolded here on a sunny, warm afternoon on September 20, 2002. The tragedy in Karmadonsky was a complete surprise for all of its participants: for residents, the crew of Sergei Bodrov, emergency services. People quietly went about their business, and the Bodrov team finished filming, which was supposed to start in the morning, but the prevailing circumstances led to the fact that they were postponed to the second half of the day. It gets dark early in the mountains, and therefore by seven o'clock in the evening people began to gather, and in the meantime, events occurred in the upper reaches of the gorge, which radically changed the entire subsequent course of events.
Tragedy in the Karmadon Gorge September 20, 2002
About eight in the evening on the surface of the Kolka glaciercollapsed a large mass of hanging ice. The blow was a huge force, some experts even compared his energy with the undermining of a small atomic charge. It caused the destruction of the upper part of the glacier body, numerous cracks caused the disruption of the Kolka fragment. Striving downward, this mass began to entrap into its orbit a stone-mud mudflow, the town of Upper Karmadon was the first to be hit by the elements, it was all swept away by mudslides. Geographically, any ravine has a rather narrow passage; this is precisely what did not allow dispelling the destructive force of the ice-mud mass. The stream rushed at a speed of over two hundred kilometers, and the highest height of the shaft was about 250 meters. All of this avalanche covered more than twelve kilometers of the Karmadon Gorge, turning the once flourishing land into a lifeless desert.
The dramatic fate of the group of Sergei Bodrov
The crew of Sergei Bodrov loaded ontransport, however, no longer managed to leave the gorge. Everything happened almost at lightning speed. According to eyewitnesses, the entire gathering of the glacier took no more than 20 minutes, which further complicated the task of escape. In the first hours after the tragedy, fear and gloom overwhelmed many people. Such were the devastating consequences of the event that changed the Karmadon Gorge. North Ossetia, without exception, responded to this trouble. Immediately after the glacier disappeared in Vladikavkaz, an operational headquarters was formed to search for people and assist the victims. Significant forces of the Ministry of Emergency Situations and other emergency structures were brought to the scene. According to preliminary data, there were 19 dead. The rescue work that had begun revealed the entire scale of the tragedy, everything was ground practically to dust, thousands of cubic meters of mudflow flooded the entire flat part of the gorge, and there were no chances to survive here.
Consequences of glacial collapse
September 21 at 14.00, according to the operational headquarters, there were more than 130 people dead and missing, including the cinema group of Sergey Bodrov. However, people had little hope that the famous actor and his team could take refuge in a car tunnel that was located in the lower part of the gorge, and even allegedly there were witnesses who noticed how a column of cars was heading towards this shelter. All residents of the Upper Karmadona were on the list of the missing, because they could not find a single body. Active rescue work allowed to approach the entrance to the tunnel, but it was blocked by a multimeter block of ice and mud. It became clear that it would not be possible to quickly get inside. So, the chances of finding survivors quickly melted. However, volunteers and everyone willing to help speed up the process joined the operation. The descent of the glacier in the Karmadon Gorge caused unprecedented unity of all residents of a small Caucasian republic. But all efforts were in vain, for the first month of rescue work they did not find anyone.
Doom of hope
Relatives and friends of Sergei Bodrov and his companionsinsisted on continuing the search, but the coming cold was no longer possible. Many understood that, most likely, they are not alive. But according to the well-known expression “Hope dies last”, they continued to believe, despite common sense, in the possibility of saving the group. However, the more time passed, the more ghostly became all hope. In the end, even the most ardent enthusiasts stopped searching. It was decided to begin a new search with the beginning of spring in order to find the remains of all filmmakers. Many people remember television footage from the scene of the tragedy in the spring of 2003, as the meters before the entrance to the tunnel were thought to be, which invented operations to speed up the process, 19 attempts to drill the tunnel body were unsuccessful, and only the twentieth attempt allowed to get inside. A huge disappointment awaited all those present: no traces of people were found inside. Nevertheless, the study of the tunnel lasted for almost a year, but did not give positive results. By decision of the commission in May 2004, all searches were terminated. All missing persons were listed as dead in the Karmadon Gorge.
