Why he took up this topic, the author of seven books, a member of the Writers' Union of Russia, the chairman of the historical-genealogical society, Evgeny Karpuk, does not fully realize himself. The investigation of the criminal case back in 1959 was extremely inconsistent, and three months after the incident it was closed with the wording: "… it should be considered that the cause of the death of tourists was a spontaneous force, which people were unable to overcome." Bigfoot or a nuclear explosion, a UFO or a test of a new psychotropic weapon, a "cleanup" of the special services at last?.. Karpuk offers a completely prosaic reason for the tragedy.
According to the main conclusions of experts, all nine tourists, including its leader, a student of the Ural Polytechnic Institute, 23-year-old Igor Dyatlov, mysteriously died in the area of Mount Otorten in the Northern Urals on the night of February 1 to 2, 1959. Almost 60 years ago. Like everything secret, this story attracts attention and is overgrown with legends: dozens of books and films, about 70 versions of what happened … However, the souls of the dead need peace no less than a clue to the living, Evgeny Karpuk, a resident of Kursk, is convinced.
Prosecutor's Office, Investigative Committee and the Ministry of Emergencies to help the historian
“I spent most of my life in the northern city of Norilsk,” Yevgeny Semenovich begins his story. - And I froze twice in a fierce cold. Drowning in loose snow, it is impossible to walk even a hundred meters. So one day, exhausted, I began to crawl in the snow. A dozen steps were left to the blown solid crust, when the legs treacherously gave up. A boy was running nearby, who called an adult for help, and they saved me. The second time, as a teenager, with a classmate went to ski training in a group of experienced athletes much older than us. But they did not guess with the ski wax, lagged behind the others and were at the mercy of a sudden blizzard. Everything is "in milk", we can't find the ski track, we got lost. We somehow came across a ski trail and headed, as it seemed to us then, to Norilsk. But we went to the opposite village Valyok. When the rather frightened and tired returned to the base, found it closed - the tourists dispersed, and no one was looking for us. So I know firsthand about frosts, winds and human negligence."
Evgeny Semenovich became interested in tragedies and got hold of a copy of the 1959 criminal case. This was followed by consultations with representatives of the General Prosecutor's Office and the Central Office of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation. Karpuk also contacted the head of the fund "In memory of the Dyatlov group" Yuri Kuntsevich in Yekaterinburg, met with him.
On the night of 1 to 2 February 1959, nine tourists died in the Northern Urals.
Throwing aside incredible statements and speculations, the Kurian plunged into the study of facts. An archivist by education, Evgeny Semenovich has extensive experience in working with documents, building complex cause-and-effect chains is a skill he has accumulated over the years. But the historian is not limited by his knowledge: he had professional consultants. And a real training maneuver of the Ministry of Emergency Situations became one of the tips for him …
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The investigation is led by experts: Sedunov and Katyshev
Karpuk's book is based on the reasoning of two fictional characters - the senior assistant to the head of the Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee for the Sverdlovsk Region, Vladimir Sedunov, and his subordinate, the head of the investigation of particularly important cases, Sergey Katyshev. Nobody gave them the task to investigate the long-closed criminal case in 1959. But interest in him awakens after a new tragedy: a group of nine Perm tourists-skiers on the route on the road to the village of Ivdel discovers the corpse of a man with no visible signs of violent death. Having informed via satellite communication about a terrible find, tourists stop communicating …
Winter again, skiers and the very area that was dubbed "Dyatlov pass" in connection with the tragic events. Fresh information appears - another tourist disappears, who went on a solo ski trip. These three events are not the fiction of the author, but the reality of January 2016. Interest in the scene only increased after the incident. Of course, each case must be dealt with separately, but: “In 1961 alone, more than 200 tourists were killed throughout the Soviet Union. And whether such statistics were conducted before the infamous "Dyatlov pass" is a big question! " - the author of the book notes.
The story is narrated in two time periods at once: January 2016 and January 1959. All the participants of the campaign “come to life” in the published excerpts of their diary: “2nd Northern is an abandoned geological settlement of 20-25 houses. Only one is habitable. Late at night, in continuous darkness, they found a village and only guessed from the ice-hole where the hut was. A bonfire of boards lit up. The stove smoked. Several people pierced their hands with nails. " And earlier: “… Yura Yudin will not go with us. He suddenly fell ill and could not go on a hike. " Yuri Efimovich in his "so accidentally saved" life was realized in the profession, became the chief architect of the city of Solikamsk. He died 5 years ago at the age of 77 and bequeathed to bury himself in a mass grave with the rest of the expedition.
Mount Otorten in the Mansi language is not at all a call "Do not go there", but a Mountain from which the wind blows.
“So don't believe in rock after that,” says the author of the book through the thoughts of his character, the investigator of the Ivdel District Prosecutor's Office Kuzmins. - The composition of the group of tourists changed several times: someone dropped out at the stage of training, someone was not released from the institute because of the session, the third left at the beginning of the journey, and the fourth, on the contrary, was turned on at the last moment. One got the impression that fate averted the inevitable death from three guys, and on the contrary entered and directed the 40-year-old man, who did not fit into the existing student collective, who had gone through the war and the front.
… people died from strong winds
The tent of the "Dyatlovites" cut with a knife was discovered 300 meters from the top of Khola-Chakhl, 1079 meters high, at a slope of 25 degrees. After the high-profile case, for some reason it began to be translated by many from Mansi as "Mountain of the Dead", although in reality it is just "Middle Mountain". But the top of Otorten, the main goal of the Dyatlov group's route, is not at all the call "Do not go there", but in the local dialect - "The mountain from which the wind blows."
The book contains the testimony of a local forester: “I believe that there was a strong wind and they were blown off the mountain. Around the time when the tourists died, even in the village of Vizhay there was a strong wind and a blizzard, from which children fell … People died from strong winds … During the wind, we sat in the hollows without food for up to six days, waiting for the blow to finish."
And here are the conclusions of the author, dressed in the reasoning of one of the heroes: “By midnight the temperature dropped to minus 28 degrees, and the wind force reached 20 meters per second. Taking into account the fact that in the mountainous area the blow is always stronger, Katyshev suggested that on the slope the gusts could be 30 m / s. Taking into account the harshness of the weather (the effect of frost with wind on a person), the guys felt like they had to endure the cold within minus 90 degrees. There was simply no chance to survive in such a cold."
What made the tourists - almost naked and barefoot - leave the tent in such weather conditions, cutting the tarp from the inside? And then not at all running, but rather slowly, as follows from the protocols of the criminal case, to go down the mountain shoulder to shoulder? And why did some of the group try to make their way back after the descent?
A curious coincidence: three guys who tried to return to the tent had dates of birth in a row: January 11, 12 and 13. How can one not believe in mysticism? And the date of the death of the group - February 2 - falls on the birthday of Semyon Zolotarev, with whose name all the criminal versions of the death of tourists are associated. By the way, in the group, most likely, his name was generally Alexander …
To find out all the answers to these and other questions, read the book by Yevgeny Karpuk, which he called a line from the real decision on the closure of the Dyatlov case: "There is no evidence of a crime." For purchase, please contact the bookstore of the Kursk Union of Writers at 6 Red Square or by calling the author of the publication 8-903-875-21-21. And when there are enough readers, "DDD" will announce the organization of a creative meeting with Yevgeny Semenovich to discuss the topic raised. Let's together check the historian's version for consistency!
Oksana SANITSKAYA