The Hindu : International : Russia mourns Beslan victims

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Tuesday, Sep 07, 2004

International

International

Russia mourns Beslan victims

By Vladimir Radyuhin

MOSCOW, SEPT. 6. Russia mourned the deaths of hundreds of children and adults on Monday in its worst hostage drama as efforts centred on saving the lives of those who survived the school carnage.

Flags flew at half mast across Russia, TV channels cancelled all entertainment programmes and commemorative rallies were held across the country on the first day of a two-day mourning declared by the Russian President, Vladimir Putin.

One hundred seventy victims were put to rest today in the small town of Beslan where the 61-hostage drama unfolded last week. Endless funeral processions of black-dressed weeping mourners streaming towards a soccer-field sized plot of wasteland local authorities allotted next to an existing cemetery to accommodate all the bodies.

The official casualty figure of 335 did not change since Sunday, but the Vremya Novostei daily quoted rescue workers as saying that the final death toll could exceed 400 and even 500. Hospitals in North Ossetia, a small autonomous republic in southern Russia, were overflowing with 377 injured former hostages, including 156 children. Some 20 patients were flown to Moscow hospitals today, in addition to 22 admitted over the weekend. Two Hercules transport planes brought medicines and equipment from the United States today. Italy has also sent two planeloads of medical supplies. However, a Red Cross official today called for more medical assistance.

"International relief supplies mostly consist of medicines, whereas hospitals in North Ossetia need costly medical equipment, such as artificial lung ventilation apparatus, as they were not prepared to handle such large numbers of victims," said Tatyana Nikolayenko, head of Russia's Red Cross.

In many Russian cities people queued to donate blood for the injured. In Moscow the number of volunteers is so great that they are being put on week-long waiting lists.

Meanwhile, more evidence is emerging that the bloody showdown in the 52-hour hostage drama took security forces by surprise. Commandos said they lost 10 men and over were 20 wounded in Beslan — more than even during the assault on the presidential palace in Kabul in December 1979.

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