Chemical precipitation as the cause of death of students in the Northern Urals.
In February 1959, a group of ski tourists, consisting of nine students and graduates of the Ural Polytechnic Institute, died in the Northern Urals.
Search and rescue teams found a tent of tourists on the slope of Mount Kholatchakhl. It turned out that on the night of February 1–2, for some unknown reason, the tourists hastily abandoned their tent, leaving in it tourist equipment, part of their outerwear and warm shoes. After that, we went towards the forest (about 1.5 km), where they made a small fire. However, at a temperature of -25 degrees and a lack of warm clothes and shoes, everyone died from hypothermia …
That year I was a third-year student at UPI, where I learned about the tragedy that had happened, but due to the fact that many facts and documents were immediately classified, the cause of the death of students then remained unknown.
It seems to me that the most probable cause is the consequences of rocket tests. It was during these years that missile tests were carried out most intensively. Let us recall that the first artificial Earth satellite was launched in 1957, and the flight of the first cosmonaut Yu. A. Gagarin was held in 1961.
- Did the tourists come under the influence of radioactive substances?
Not. While missiles are being tested, at least for military purposes, there can be no atomic bomb on them. At the same time, the fighting compartment is filled with metal blanks and ordinary sand.
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Member of the search group S. N. Sogrin, in his article “Once again about how it was” (Komsomolskaya Pravda, 2013), calls the “fear factor” that arose when the debris of the rocket fell as the cause of the death of tourists.
In panic, everyone runs down the icy slope of the mountain, falls, wounds on stones protruding from the ice … Crippled, half-naked and barefoot they reach the forest, where they try to warm themselves up by a weak fire. But this no longer gives salvation, everyone dies from hypothermia …
Being in a tent under the illumination of an electric flashlight, you will not see a bright external light.
Noise, hum and whistle could be heard if the rocket debris fell near the tent. But no debris was found here.
Further. Frightened by the sounds, one or two tourists would leave the tent, then tell the others what happened. By this time, the sounds had already stopped, the threat was over. If they were afraid of a possible repetition of the threat, then everyone had to get dressed, put on shoes, pick up things, remove the tent and change the place of spending the night.
No, the reason for the mortal fear that gripped the tourists in the tent continued to operate both after they left the tent and when they fled down the mountainside.
In my view, the root cause of the tourist tragedy was a prolonged chemical attack following an emergency rocket launch.
To substantiate the chemical version, it is necessary to briefly describe the composition and properties of rocket fuels and oxidizers used on liquid-propellant rockets for meteorological and military purposes.
Ordinary kerosene is often used as propellant. Kerosene is cheap and the fuel equipment is well developed. Kerosene is a cross between gasoline and diesel fuel, the properties of which are familiar to every motorist. He does not pose a danger to humans. The amount of kerosene depends on the “caliber of the rocket.
- And what is the launch mass of a rocket?
The launch mass of a rocket intended for launching a space station into orbit can be more than 2,000 tons. But in 1959 there were no such large missiles yet. Then the rocket mass of 200 tons can be considered quite real, of which the mass of kerosene was about 70 - 80 tons.
To ensure combustion of fuel in an airless space, the rocket must have an oxidizer. Its quantity must correspond to the fuel and could also reach 70 - 80 tons.
Liquid nitrogen dioxide (chemical formula NO2 or N2O4) is often used as an oxidizer on "kerosene" rockets. This is a very toxic substance - the second hazard class.
- It turns out that the rocket is tightly packed with a poisonous substance!
Yes, no sarin, no soman or other chemical warfare agents are needed, if there are already 70 - 80 tons of oxidizer (nitrogen dioxide).
Nitrogen dioxide (DA) has various names: nitrogen tetroxide (AT), dinitrogen tetroxide, etc. The military calls it amyl. It has been widely used from the beginning of the space age to the present on Russian, American and French rockets.
We are interested in the dependence of DA properties on temperature, shown in the figure:
At room temperature, DA is a volatile yellow liquid in the form of a mixture of N2O4 and NO2 molecules in a ratio of approximately 1: 1. At a temperature of –11 ° C, the liquid transforms into a solid phase (white crystals) and, with a further decrease in temperature, it already consists only of N2O4 molecules. At + 21 ° C, the liquid mixture of N2O4 and NO2 boils, turning into a suffocating red-brown gas, and at + 140 ° C and above, it completely turns into black 0 gas NO2.
Now consider the adventures of a YES on a missile launch failure.
It is obvious that it will be impossible to describe all emergency situations, therefore we will restrict ourselves to only the most probable options.
Imagine that an emergency situation occurred in "near space" (at an altitude of about 30 km) shortly after the launch of the rocket, when there is still a lot of kerosene and oxidizer in its tanks. During unsuccessful launches, missile explosions often occur for various reasons, including on a command to self-destruct (for example, when deviating from the course). During an explosion, multi-ton residues of kerosene and oxidizer will be thrown into a space with low pressure. There are two options here.
In the first variant, the discarded kerosene is "successfully" mixed with the oxidizing agent, and the resulting mixture will ignite from the rocket engine. In this case, a burning cloud appears, which can travel long distances along complex trajectories. Such "fireballs" over the Northern Urals were repeatedly observed by local residents and tourists. The most impressionable of them observed "UFO" in the sky.
In the second variant, the discarded kerosene will not mix with the oxidizing agent and will not ignite. The further fate of this kerosene is of no interest to us, therefore, we will only follow the transformations of the separated oxidizer.
As part of the rocket, nitrogen dioxide (DA) was intended for use in liquid form, i.e. was at a temperature between –11 and +21 degrees Celsius. The temperature in the stratosphere (at an altitude of 30 km) is low: up to -50 degrees Celsius, so the ejected liquid solidifies here. Solid pieces of DA (separately or with fragments of the tank) begin to fall at an increasing rate. Entering a dense atmosphere at a high speed, pieces of DA are heated, liquefied and, under the action of counter air flows, pass into a finely dispersed state. Small droplets lose speed, cool down, crystallize and form something like a snow cloud. The white cloud YES, slowly descending, can be carried by the wind over significant distances.
- And where could the rocket that exploded over the territory of Komi come from?
The most probable, it seems to me, was an unsuccessful launch of a rocket from the Plesetsk cosmodrome in the Arkhangelsk region. In recent years, we have often heard on radio and television about missile launches from this cosmodrome in the direction of the Kamchatka test site.
But I do not insist on this. The rocket could also be launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome (Kazakhstan) or Kapustin Yar (Astrakhan region) in the direction of the test site on Novaya Zemlya.
If a cloud of nitrogen dioxide has formed over the Komi territory, then it will move to the east under the influence of the prevailing westerly winds. It is known that the Ural Mountains are a natural obstacle for rain and snow clouds formed over the western seas and moving eastward. Mountains partially block clouds and cause heavy rainfall. Apparently, the same thing happened with a cloud of nitrogen dioxide: poisonous precipitation of N2O4 in the form of white crystals or snow flakes fell on the mountains of the Northern Urals and fell on the tent of tourists.
Poisonous sediments did not necessarily fall directly on the tent (from top to bottom), they could crawl over the surface of the earth. In the area of the pass there are no dense forests, everything is blown by a strong wind, and the ground was covered with even dense snow (crust). If poisonous precipitation N2O4 dropped even 5-10 km west of the tent, then under the influence of the wind poisonous "snow" could crawl to the tent.
On the night of February 1, 1959, the air temperature was about -25C, but the roof of the tent with nine tourists inside was warmer, had a temperature of about zero. As can be seen from our figure, the temperature above –11C is sufficient for the melting of DA crystals, their transition into a liquid, fluid state. The poisonous liquid envelops the tent, preventing fresh air from entering it. YES vapors penetrate inside, a chemical attack begins …
The effect of nitrogen dioxide on humans is well understood. First of all, a person feels a specific suffocating smell. When DA combines with water, nitric acid is formed on the mucous membranes, which begins to corrode tissues. They swell, increasing airway resistance, and pulmonary edema occurs. The composition of the blood changes, in particular, hemoglobin decreases. There are bouts of coughing and choking.
Nitrogen dioxide also affects the organs of vision, causing lacrimation. A person's ability to see at dusk and in the dark also deteriorates.
In these conditions, it is easy to imagine the mental state of tourists in a tent - suffocating and half blind. Panic fear arises. Tourists rush to the exit, prevent each other from finding the removed outerwear and shoes. In the hope of getting an influx of fresh air, they are already cutting the tent from the inside … Having got out of the tent, tourists find themselves in a cloud of nitrogen dioxide, there is no fresh air here either. They illuminate the tent with a flashlight and report:
- The tent is doused with a poisonous substance!
Horror! The clothes they put on were also saturated with a poisonous liquid, the suffocating smell of death all around. Possible salvation - only in an immediate flight away from the poisoned tent, down the slope towards the forest …
It is possible that the tourists tried to support each other and at the same time fell together, as a result of which the victims received particularly severe injuries.
The flying poisonous "snow" acted on tourists not only near the tent, but also during their escape along the mountainside, and at the edge of the forest (under the cedar). The poison soaked the clothes of tourists, penetrated into the eyes and into the respiratory system. The resulting nitric acid destroyed the lungs and reduced hemoglobin. Tourists were losing their strength, saw poorly, the psyche was upset …
With difficulty it was possible to kindle a small fire, but it gave not only life-giving warmth. The fire melted poisonous "snow" both on the ground and on the clothes of tourists, continuing to poison them.
The tourists died from chemical poisoning, severe injuries and hypothermia
By the time the search and rescue teams arrived at the scene of the tragedy (after 3 weeks and later), the poisonous cloud had already dispersed. But eyewitnesses nevertheless noticed that some young trees on the border of the forest have a burnt footprint. Foam was also noted in the mouth and in the respiratory organs of the victims. These are signs of chemical exposure to nitrogen dioxide.
- The version about the cloud of nitrogen dioxide as the cause of the death of tourists looks convincing. And, probably, other toxic substances could have been formed during missile explosions?
Of course they could. Let's take a look at the other components of rocket fuels and oxidizers.
In addition to kerosene, heptyl (dimethylhydrazine) is widely used as a rocket fuel in Russia, the USA, France, Japan and China, which is more effective than kerosene.
Heptil is a strong-smelling, poisonous liquid belonging to the first class of danger. Inhalation of heptyl vapors in a person causes irritation of the mucous membranes of the respiratory tract and lungs, as a result of which - cough, hoarseness, rapid breathing. Eye irritation causes watery eyes. Also, there is a strong excitement of the central nervous system and upset of the gastrointestinal tract (nausea, vomiting).
- In my opinion, heptyl is similar to nitrogen dioxide in terms of its effect on humans?
I agree, it is similar. The only difference is that heptyl additionally causes nausea and vomiting. This sign would surely be noticed by search engines when examining the things left in the tent and the clothes of the victims. But, since none of the rescuers and investigators noted signs of vomiting in tourists, heptyl poisoning should be considered unlikely.
But let's continue our research. On rockets fueled with heptyl, as well as on "kerosene" rockets, the same oxidizing agent is used - nitrogen dioxide.
Hence it follows that a rocket stuffed with heptyl and nitrogen dioxide, like a "kerosene" rocket, could form the already described poisonous cloud of nitrogen dioxide during an explosion.
Conclusion
1. Under the influence of nitrogen dioxide NO2, nitric acid was formed in the lungs of tourists, which destroyed the respiratory organs. The frothy discharge was observed by rescuers.
2. Exposure to nitrogen dioxide (both externally and internally, through blood) could change the skin color of tourists. A brownish color was also observed by rescuers.
3. Tourists died from chemical poisoning with nitrogen dioxide, from severe injuries and hypothermia.
Author: Anatoly Yarusov, graduate of the Ural Polytechnic Institute (Sverdlovsk, 1962), candidate of technical sciences