The mystery of the Chivruay tragedy - the death of ten ski tourists (students from Kuibyshev) in the Lovozero tundra on the Kola Peninsula at the end of January 1973 - still remains unsolved. Scientists and researchers around the world are preparing expeditions in order to find out the truth. REN TV journalists interviewed Viktor Voroshilov, a cousin of Anatoly Pirogov, who died under unclear circumstances along with other members of the tourist group. The man ventured into his own investigation. Walked the path of his cousin and amassed amazing testimonies.
Viktor Voroshilov spent a long time preparing for this expedition. The guides did not agree to lead him to the pass in winter: it was too dangerous. But in order to honor the memory of his cousin who died 45 years ago, he ventured into the mountains on a snowmobile. After his expedition, Viktor Voroshilov hopes to find answers to questions in the archives. Why did seasoned tourists behave like cocky newbies? Why did the two who separated from the group freeze, although they had very little to go to the place where they could make a fire? Why did the rest give up, refusing to get up from the tent that had not yet been set up? And the main thing is why, like Dyatlov's group, the bodies of tourists in the Kola tundra were searched for by the KGB, the case was classified, and the relatives were not given any information - only 15 minutes to say goodbye for the last time.
“I always knew about the existence of my cousin, who died a long time ago. Namely, he froze with a certain group of skiers. It happened a long time ago. In 1973. I was only 2.5 years old then. At the same time my grandfather died. I remember all this in my memory: black scarves, tears, mourning. Since then, we have commemorated our relatives every year. The time came when I wanted to dig deeper and find out the details of the tragedy that happened to my cousin. Not much time has passed, I am sure that there were eyewitnesses of those events. Relatives are still alive. A little over 46 years have passed,”said Viktor Voroshilov.
According to the man, there is very little information about the tragedy on the Internet, and it became interesting for him to conduct his own investigation.
“At that time, guys and girls loved to go hiking. Spending time in nature. Chances are it's more for yourself. People loved companies, joint trips. During the campaigns we sang, took our guitars with us, overcame some obstacles,”Voroshilov explained.
According to the interlocutor of REN TV, all members of the tourist group had to undergo preparation for the expedition: “Our group is not a spontaneous group of amateurs. I received information during the expedition that these were trained guys. They studied before entering the university in some circles, went on hikes, and, having entered the university, they studied at the tourist club. Before going on any campaign, expedition, they prepared. They had special grade books. Tourists' books. They had to first pass a test route, somewhere in their area, near their city."
At the same time, as Voroshilov assures, the participants of the tour group were not trained: “Again, I know that they allegedly did not pass that preparatory campaign in fact. There was a practice that marks about the passage of the route were put in the nearest post office, where anyone comes and says: “I am a tourist, I have passed the route, make a mark for me!”. The mark was shown to the management. Admitted to a more complex expedition."
The interlocutor noted that only the best students were selected for the expeditions: “On this trip, as far as I know, the best of the best were selected. There should have been excellent students in their studies. A team was formed from the university. They must be athletic. Have experience. They had leaders with them. They were about 6 years older. If the guys who died were 17-18 years old, then the leaders were 23-24 years old. The leaders knew the route they went to. They walked on it. The route they walked was covered up and down by other tourists. As it turned out later, rescuers counted about 300 parking lots. For the season. Stops were mainly in a wooded area, it is near a lake or along streams, rivers."
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According to Voroshilov, until he found confirmation of the official version that the members of the tourist group died as a result of hypothermia: “The official version is frozen. I have not yet received any data confirming the official version. Apparently, the decisions were made incorrectly by the leaders, as a result of which a series of events took place that led to their death."
A relative of one of the victims believes that there are many secrets in the death of the students: “It is still not clear to me: five people are in one place. In a tent or on a tent. This is an open question. I received other information during the expedition from the mouth of the rescuer I found. They lay and waited for their death. They lay there and froze. Or they fell asleep, and during this there was a cooling. I probably have not been in such situations to understand this, but it seems to me that if a person freezes, he cannot lie down. It seems to me that he must somehow move, crawl, walk. The guys were found frozen. Their leader was with them. For some reason, the other 5 people dispersed. They say that these were scouts who, in conditions of poor visibility, went to look for a safe descent."
One of the rescuers told Voroshilov that the bodies were covered with a tent: “The guys were covered with a tent. This was news to me. I have a photo where they are not covered with a tent, but covered with snow. We need to find out how it was. All the little things can influence some conclusions."
Voroshilov believes that this story is incredibly similar to the tragedy of the Dyatlov group. Small team - 10 people. Difficult route. After a hard day's crossing, they decided to climb the pass in the dark, with low temperatures and strong winds in the back, which made return impossible. A terrible blizzard began, and five left for reconnaissance. The rest lay down on the tent, which they could not put up. The skiers were reported missing a week later, in January, but the bodies were found until mid-June.
“Why they were not exhibited at the institute from which they left, the whole group of 5 people whom they brought at once, is also not clear. Perhaps they didn't want to scare people at the time. Relatives talk about some kind of black darkening of the corpses. Some even talk about the absence of eye sockets,”says Voroshilov.
There are dozens of versions of why the Chivruai tragedy happened. From the most obvious - the illiterate behavior of tourists - to the fantastic like UFOs or Yeti. There is a lot of evidence of the appearance of Bigfoot in these parts; even employees of the local history museum of the Kola Peninsula collect them seriously. In the 60s and 70s, up to two hundred tourists per year died. The hike in the mountains was a test for the elite. But if in most cases the reasons for the death were obvious, then there are several mysterious tragedies at once, which have not yet been solved.