Dead Mountain: The Dyatlov Pass Incident (Перевал Дятлова)

On 27th of January 1959 a group of students and graduates

from Ural Polytechnic Institute, lead by Igor Dyatlov

headed out for a ski hike in the mountains to the north of the Sverdlovsk region.

On February 12, the group does not arrive at the end of the point at the estimated time.

On 26th of February, at the North-Eastern slope on a mountain Kholat Syakhl

the first bodies were found.

No one knows what happened. actually.

No one, but me.

DYATLOV'S PASS

Comrade major, wake up!

Wake up, comrade major. We're getting closer, we'll be landing soon.

I wish you good health, Comrade Major.

I'm Captain Okunev from the department. KGB in the Sverdlovsk region.

You can call me Oleg. It's damn cold in here.

Call me Sasha. I see, you're not dressed for this weather.

Let's go!

How many bodies did you find? - Four bodies and a tent.

What about the others? I thought it was 9 people. - I don't know, comrade major.

The radiogram arrived. As expected, I reported to Moscow.

They sent you.

Who is conducting the investigation? Vasily Tempalov, the Prosecutor.

What kind of person is he? He's a good guy, he knows what he's doing.

He fought in war, like us. Lieutenant of the Guard, he has medals.

We're driving to him now. He's waiting for us.

Very well.

Good evening. - Can't shake hands over doorstep, come on in.

Sasha. - Vasily.

I need to get back now. I'll leave you to talk.

Tomorrow morning, I'll be back and we'll go to altitude 1079.

Alright.

Come in, it's warmer there.

Sit down.

Excuse me, comrade major, I am...

I am an outspoken person, and there is no ... - Oleg.

What? - Call me Oleg,

especially in front of outsiders. let them think i'm your assistant.

Hi. - Hi.

This is my wife, Nadezhda. - Nice to meet you. Oleg. Excuse us.

Everything is fine, I understand. - Nadia, please!

What? You couldn't treat our guest, while you wait.

We have dried venison. Or do you prefer a drink,

to get warm? - Nadia, please!

The man came from Moscow. - It's all right.

It's all right, Vasechka.

Nadezhda... - Yakovlevna

Nadezhda Yakovlevna, I'd actually appreciate it. I'm terribly cold.

It was freezing in the helicopter. I'd like to get warm.

You see? Here you go!

What are you doing? - Come on!

Now. Just a second.

Sorry. - I'm so sorry.

Vasily Ivanovich, look... sit down!

I'll tell you something important.

I don't exist for any of your documents,

not for any protocol, not for anything.

Introduce me to others, as you wish.

I'm not here, but I'm in charge.

And technically, you are. Until a new investigator is appointed.

I thought you were being sent for surveillance.

Is everything clear? - Yes, sir.

Here you are.

Sverdlovsk region. The altitude of 1079. * *

Hey! Don't touch anything! The prosecutor is here.

This is my assistant.

And what's the difference? You've messed it all up anyway.

You insult me, Vasily Ivanovich. we just looked to see if there were people there.

Sharavin and I found a tent.

With us was also forester, he is from the locals, Ivan Pashin.

He gave us a ride. We thought they had fallen into a ravine.

But from there I could see the tent through my binoculars.

So it wasn't snowed in? - It was, but not completely.

It's been here for a month, what you expect? It has been snowing.

We decided to go up, but the forester, he didn't come with us, he wasn't feeling well.

Why? - Vasily, we were also afraid.

The tent fabric was torn, snow accumulated inside, skis stick out,

at the entrance there is an icebreaker, not a living soul is visible.

The fabric was cut from the inside. - That's how we found it.

They left the tent, cutting it open from the inside.

What do you mean inside?

Show me the bodies. - Down there.

Your assistant is very fast. - Tell me about it.

Where are their outerwear? Borya, where are their clothes?

I don't know, that's how we found them. - What do you mean?

We found them as you see them.

So they had escaped from the tent. and they ran 1.5 kilometers like this?

Did you recognize anyone?

Yuri Krivonischenko and Sasha Zolotarev.

Zolotarev was an instructor. tourist base "Kaurov",

Krivonischenko engineer at the plant, he worked in the "four-legged".

In Chelyabinsk-40?

Yes.

There was a fire here. Did they burn their clothes?

Maybe they tried to keep warm until the last moment? - Is there other reasonable explanation?

Let's continue. Where's the other one? - A little lower.

Igor Dyatlov, he is the leader of the group.

Zhenya Maslennikov recognized him.

Were you friends? - Not really. We had a story.

I was on the routing committee. Igor and I discussed this trip.

I knew the students, they were well prepared, experienced tourists.

He was probably walking toward the tent. Over there, see?

300-400 meters, where our boys are.

Zina Kolmogorova is there. We didn't find any others,

although we searched a large area. We are still gathering people.

How was the body positioned? - What?

Kolmogorov's body with its head to the west and its feet to the east?

I can't say that.

OK, her head towards the tent like the others?

Yeah, yeah, I guess.

Did you see the footprints?

What footprints?

Some went wearing valenki, others-barefoot.

Interestingly, the tracks were left by 8 people, and there were 9 of them.

So they cut the tent open from the inside. and ran away, wearing whatever they had on,

leaving warm clothes, food and things in it.

In such weather conditions, this leads to certain death.

Why did they do it?

Mansi call this mountain Kholat Syakhl.

Mountain of the Dead.

Students are children still. Parents shouldn't bury their children.

We've been through enough of this during the war.

April 20, 1945, province of Brandenburg, Germany. * *

Damn how they hit, those 200 millimeter guns.

Are they hitting Berlin? - No, not yet.

Vitya, you are losing your mind because of this "Walther". Treating it as a woman, by God!

You haven't stopped cleaning it.

This is no ordinary "Walther", Oleg.

I'll shoot Hitler with it.

Oh, then it's alright.

Quiet! Do you hear?

Guys, look! the Germans are retreating.

Where did they come from? They shouldn't be here.

What's it? - It looks like a castle.

Strange, it's not on the map.

We have to report to headquarters.

It's gonna take an hour to reach them.

Let's see what's in there.

I don't like this place.

Brothers, I'll watch the entrance., I'm not going to go any further.

Come on, Yegorich! There's no one here.

You're a soldier. Supposed to go through fire and water. - Quiet!

Sergeant major, cover the entrance! Two will stay here.

Vitya, you're coming with me.

Are there any Germans here?

Hey!

Stop!

Hey!

Where did she go? - Who?

A girl was going this way. - There's no one here.

How come no one? Where did she go?

Come on!

What is this all about?

That girl over there. - What did they do to her?

It can't be! I saw her in the hallway a minute ago.

Oleg, what's wrong with you? She's been dead for a long time.

This hair and this...

Archive of the Prosecutor's Office, Sverdlovsk region

Oleg Dmitrievich? - It's Me.

I am an expert in forensic, Shumanova Ekaterina Andreyevna.

Ekaterina Andreyevna, excuse me, I didn't understand right away. Come in.

They brought me here straight from the plane. And I thought ... ,

That we're having an official meeting... It's just me here. I'm the only one in the library.

You are welcome.

So I understand that we have to drive now. To Avdella?

Is everything ready there? - Yes.

To be honest, I wasn't expecting you today. I thought you'd be here tomorrow, but ...

Either way, sit down, we need to talk.

Do you know what happened?

A tourist group has disappeared. - Yes.

Currently, only four have been found, all dead.

And I need to find out one hundred percent. Exactly how they died.

Can I ask you a question? - Of course.

Who are you?

I've never seen you in the Sverdlovsk prosecutor's office before.

Last name, first name, father's name, date of birth, address and signature.

A non-disclosure of information? - Yes.

Are you serious? - If you want me to answer, then yes.

If not, don't sign it, but then we will communicate in a different format.

Now you're under oath, don't forget that.

A KGB major?

Do you think they were killed? - I don't know what to think.

But I see signs of some strange confusion in our country.

What? - This is Hamlet in Lozinsky's translation.

I heard he already has a designated expert. - Yes.

But you will conduct an autopsy, and Comrade Vozrozhdeni will sign it.

Do we understand one another?

Yes.

Alright.

The contents of the stomach one hundred cubic centimeters slimy mass,

brown-red-like color.

The mucosa has a purplish-red color, swollen, with well-defined folds.

A large number of small hemorrhages can be seen on the surface of the folds,

Vishnevsky's spots.

How long after the last meal did they die?

Can this be determined? - Yes, I would say 6-8 hours.

Does this mean anything to you? - Dinner is usually eaten before bedtime.

In the tent found leftovers from dinner.

You think they weren't planning on leaving the tent?

They were having dinner. and they just wanted to sleep?

But someone or something ... - Go on, Katya.

The bones and cartilage of the skeleton are intact to the touch.