The Arkankergen border post on the Kazakh-Chinese border is located in the mountains at an altitude of about 3000 meters. The terrain is difficult to access, there are no settlements nearby. The post works only in summer, when the border is violated by the citizens of the PRC, who come to these mountainous places in search of medicinal herbs.
This border post became known to the whole world after the tragedy that took place here at the end of May 2012. The next outfit, consisting of 11 conscripts, three contract soldiers and one officer, took up the Arkankergen post on May 10. Two and a half weeks later, the outpost did not get in touch with its border detachment.
On May 30, a detachment of border guards was expelled to find a burnt-out barracks, built of wood about 50 years ago, on the site of the checkpoint.
Twelve bodies of border guards were found in the ashes, and in addition, the corpse of a huntsman from a nearby hunting farm with a gunshot wound to the head. The remains of two more servicemen were later discovered. Thus, the death toll reached 15, and the fate of another person remained unclear. But who, exactly, still had to be established - on June 1, the remains were transported to Astana for a genetic examination. On the same day, the main military prosecutor's office of Kazakhstan opened a criminal case on the death of border guards. By order of the country's President Nursultan Nazarbayev, a government commission was created, which was to determine the main of the three initial versions: an accidental fire, a terrorist act, or the consequences of hazing.
All 15 submachine guns were found at the scene of the tragedy, only the service pistol of the squad commander, captain Altynbek Kereev, disappeared.
On June 3, the first data from the laboratories appeared - no alcohol was found in the blood of the dead border guards and the huntsman. At the same time, searches continued in the area of emergency, which brought success to the investigation. On June 4, 24 kilometers from the "Arkankergen" border post, the 15th border guard, Vladislav Chelakh, was found in the wintering shepherd. He had a pistol missing from the outpost, mobile phones of colleagues, money. He told the investigation that he had killed 15 people on May 28 at 5 o'clock in the morning, when everyone except the sentry was asleep. At that moment Chelakh was on duty at the barracks and had access to an arsenal of weapons.
