On February 1, 2019, the Prosecutor General's Office of Russia announced the resumption of the investigation into the mysterious and inexplicable death of Dyatlov's tourist group in the Northern Urals. The tragedy happened 60 years ago, in February 1959, but it still remains one of the main mysteries of the 20th century. Over the years, hundreds of amateurs and professionals have studied the circumstances and evidence, worked out various versions in search of an answer to the question of what happened to Dyatlov's group.
The last trip
In the middle of the 20th century, sports tourism was rapidly gaining popularity in the USSR. Its center and driving force were mainly students. Tourist clubs began to appear in the country's universities, which contributed to the unification of students of different ages and specialties. There was also such a club at the Ural Polytechnic Institute (UPI), one of its participants was a 5th year student Igor Dyatlov, who studied at the radio engineering faculty.
Igor Dyatlov
Over the years of his passion for hiking, he has accumulated tremendous experience in passing routes of varying degrees of difficulty, including the most difficult, long and distant ones. In the summer of 1958, Dyatlov had the idea of a winter trip to Mount Otorten. He personally developed a new, previously untested route, after which he passed the necessary approvals with him in Sverdlovsk (now Yekaterinburg).
Together with Dyatlov, 13 people were supposed to go on a hike, but three of them, for various reasons, could not join the tourist group. Another one - a student of UPI Yuri Yudin - was forced to return home due to illness. Thus, the group remained:
- 2 girls-students of UPI - Zinaida Kolmogorova and Lyudmila Dubinina;
- 2 UPI students - Yuri Doroshenko and Alexander Kolevatov;
- 3 UPI graduates - Rustem Slobodin, Georgy Krivonischenko, Nikolay Thibault-Brignolle;
- tourism instructor Semyon Zolotarev.
During the campaign, many participants kept notes, they also had a common diary, which covers all the events up to January 31st. The members of the group were last seen alive on January 28, 1959. It is known that on February 1, tourists settled for the night on the slope of Mount Kholatchakhl next to an unnamed pass, later named after Igor Dyatlov.
On the appointed day - February 12 - they did not appear at the final point of their route. They were waited for some more time, and then the search began. On February 25, an empty tent was found, in which there were items of clothing, shoes, food, cameras and other personal belongings of the disappeared. The next day, the bodies of the first victims were found - Doroshenko, Krivonischenko, Dyatlov, Kolmogorova. Rustem Slobodin was found on March 2. The remaining four tourists were searched until May 4.
Official investigation
From the very beginning, there were many oddities in this case, ranging from the tent cut from the inside to the lack of shoes for almost the entire group. Freezing was officially named as the cause of death of the victims, but some of them were found to have suspicious fractures, bodily injuries, and craniocerebral trauma. There were traces of radiation on the clothes of two people.
The official investigation was conducted by Lev Ivanov, an employee of the Sverdlovsk prosecutor's office. As soon as he began to familiarize himself with the materials of the case, he was summoned to Moscow for secret negotiations with the country's top leadership. Further, Ivanov coordinated all his actions during the investigation with local party officials. According to rumors, they also contributed to the early closure of the criminal case. The conclusions presented by the investigator turned out to be crumpled and vague. The cause of the death of the tourists was called an irresistible force of nature.
Later, many saw in this formulation a reference to the Civil Code of the RSFSR. It was precisely in article 404 that it was argued that the activities of individuals or enterprises associated with increased danger are liable for the harm caused, unless the impact of force majeure or gross negligence of the victim is proved.
By his conclusions, Ivanov argued that the owners of the "object of increased danger" will not be punished, since it was the spontaneous influence that took place. In addition, the same "gross negligence" was attributed to Dyatlov, committed in two moments: the late start of the ascent to the mountain and the loss of the right direction of movement, as a result of which the tourists were not at all where they had planned.
All the details hidden behind the words “persons and enterprises” were not explained in the conclusions of the official investigation, and remained classified information.
Explorer versions
Over the years of studying the materials of the case, hundreds of versions have been put forward, many articles and books have been written. Among the main causes of the tragedy, most often, the natural or human factor was named.
For example, injuries sustained by some tourists were attributed to an avalanche on the tent. Then there was a hasty escape from it and a series of scattered actions that ultimately led to the death of the entire group. The main inconsistency of this version lies in the fact that on the fatal night from February 1 to February 2 there was frost, and avalanches descend during the thaw period.
Semyon Zolotarev
The conflict that arose between the members of the tourist group was also considered among many options. Although in tourist groups with such solid experience, it was very unlikely. All the participants of the trip knew each other too well, more than once they found themselves together in extreme conditions. In fact, any conflicts during the formation of tourist groups were immediately eliminated at the planning stage. In support of this version, only the personality of Semyon Zolotarev speaks, who was not familiar with the guys earlier and joined them at the last moment. In addition, at 37, he was the oldest member of the group, which brought together young people from 21 to 25 years old.
The Mansi tribes living near the site of the tragedy were also under suspicion for some time. Although the medical experts admitted that the serious head injuries to the two members of the group could not have resulted from being struck by a stone or a weapon. And the attitude of local residents during the search work was calm and friendly.
The personality of Semyon Zolotarev and his strange past are among the main mysteries associated with tourists. In particular, many are haunted by his strange tattoos, confusion in names - he introduced himself to his comrades in the campaign as Sasha. According to a number of researchers, the group could have died as bystanders of the massacre of Zolotarev.
Another version is the elimination by the military. Allegedly, tourists accidentally stumbled upon secret tests or exercises. Also blamed for the death of the group were UFOs, infrasound, radioactivity, and an attack by fugitive prisoners.
A very detailed and plausible version is presented in the book by Alexei Rakitin "Death following the trail." In it, he talks about a secret meeting of KGB agents, who were Kolevatov, Zolotarev, Krivonischenko, with foreign spies to transfer samples of radioactive dust. Krivonischenko played the role of a "defector" who stole classified materials from the closed enterprise where he worked. Somehow the foreigners realized they were being fooled and killed everyone in an attempt to cover their tracks. And serious injuries and mutilations were designed to immobilize tourists, thereby contributing to further freezing and the onset of natural death.
Perhaps a new race
The research, which began in 2019, will reveal some classified facts or conduct research using modern advances in forensic science. It is obvious that the death of the Dyatlov group still haunts the lovers of mysticism and mysteries. This means that they will look forward to the conclusions of the investigation.
