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The remains of one of the victims (possibly Sergei Bodrov) of the ice collapse in September 2002 were found in the Genaldon Gorge (North Ossetia). This was reported by a representative of the press service of the republican department of the Ministry of Emergency Situations.

According to him, the remains were discovered by employees of the Cascade Mountain Club enterprise, who were laying a pipeline along the bank of the Genaldon River. Oleg Rzhanov, the head of the enterprise, said that streams of river water from the mudflow washed away fragments of the Moskvich brand body, inside of which there were scraps of rotted clothing, as well as human remains.

Let us recall that on September 20, 2002, Sergei Bodrov went with the film crew to film a couple of episodes for the new film “Svyaznoy”. This was his first big project, where he was the director, the scriptwriter and the leading actor. But the actor never managed to fulfill his dream. As a result of an ice collapse, the entire film crew died, which after many attempts was never found. The ice avalanche, more than 100 meters high, moved at a speed of 150-170 km/h and, according to experts, no one could survive.

15 years ago, together with the film crew in North Ossetia died under a collapsed glacier famous actor and director Sergei Bodrov. Komsomolskaya Pravda talked to the head of the search operation, rescuer Sergei Shchetinin, who told how they searched...

15 years ago, the famous actor and director Sergei Bodrov died together with a film crew in North Ossetia under a collapsed glacier. Komsomolskaya Pravda spoke with the head of the search operation, rescuer Sergei Shchetinin, who told how they were looking for Bodrov and why he and the bodies of the other victims had not yet been found.

This is one of the most serious operations ever carried out in North Ossetia-Alania. At that time, I led a rescue team in this republic, so I found myself at the epicenter of events. I myself could have become a victim of that disaster. It was in the evening. After work, I went to a cafe, which was located just at the bottom of the Karmadon Gorge. I didn’t reach my destination by just five minutes...

Shchetinin said that he was one of the first to arrive at the scene of the tragedy precisely because he was nearby.

It was dark, but I could see a pile of stones, rubble, and dirt. There was equipment in the trunk, I quickly changed clothes and got out of the car. I remember hearing screams, someone crying, and it was very cold, just like in a freezer. I started moving, lighting the way with a flashlight. And then something flashed under the rays of light. It turned out to be ice.

According to the rescuer, similar glacier collapses have already occurred in these places, although they were not a very frequent occurrence. The rescue operation began almost immediately after the emergency services learned about the incident.

In the first hours, the operation took place at great risk to the lives of the rescuers themselves: the ice-mud-stone mass was still moving, crackling and creaking disgustingly. We moved with difficulty, almost swimming. Moreover, nothing is visible... The volume of the descended glacier was about 125 million cubic meters, and the height in several places reached three hundred meters. It was almost impossible to work! But we appreciated the full scale of the disaster when we flew around the gorge in a helicopter. The mass was enormous, terrifying.

According to an experienced rescuer, the speed of the glacier was at least 220 kilometers per hour. The people who got in his way had practically no chance. None of the rescuers thought at that moment that a famous actor could be among the victims.

An artist, a politician, an athlete, a mere mortal - for us, rescuers, this does not matter while performing our duty. The life of any person is priceless. And we are doing everything to save her. A professional differs from an amateur in that he can hide his emotions and not think about unnecessary things. It was enough for us that old people, women, and children were trapped under the rubble.

Some time after the incident, Sergei’s father, director Bodrov, the eldest, arrived at the scene. Shchetinin accompanied him while he inspected the site of his son’s death.

We flew over the gorge with him several times. I remember how he looked at these blocks of ice and said: “Everything is clear.” It was clear that it was difficult to find anyone here. It is very difficult to evaluate the behavior of a person whose child is in such a state - he is neither among the living nor among the dead. But Sergei Bodrov, the eldest, behaved courageously and with dignity, although he loved his son very much. The situation as a whole was nervous; no one believed that this could happen...

As the rescuer says, it is almost impossible to find the remains of the body of Sergei and other victims, even though that same glacier has already melted for the most part.

Everything happens in life, but the probability is small. We found fragments of heavy equipment - bulldozers, cranes, KamAZ trucks. They were pieces of metal, torn to shreds. Can you imagine what could have happened to human bodies?.. Unfortunately, the glacier collapse caused a ball mill effect. This is a unit that grinds rock into powder. The pin destroyed everything that came in its way.

For some time, while the search was going on, rescuers had hope that people could have survived, for example, by taking refuge in a car tunnel. But, unfortunately, it turned out to be empty. There was only water there. Even psychics provided assistance to rescue teams.

There was no exact information about his (Sergei Bodrov) location. Neither scientists nor clairvoyants could help. Psychics showed where to drill. They never guessed right... To be honest, I am skeptical about these people. In all my work, I have never seen any “seer” help the rescuers in any way. The tragedy in the Karmadon Gorge was no exception.

To the question of whether Bodrov’s group had a chance to survive, the rescuer cannot give a definite answer.

It's hard to talk about this. Professionals understood: there could be no survivors in the gorge. But we couldn’t kill hope, because there were someone’s parents and children, brothers and sisters. Therefore, we were close to the relatives of the missing. Moreover, it was impossible to leave people alone in such a state.

  • The Karmadon Gorge tragedy occurred on September 20, 2002. More than a hundred people became victims of the collapse of the Kolka glacier, including Sergei Bodrov Jr. and members of his film crew, who were there filming an episode of the film “The Messenger.” At about seven o'clock in the evening, filming stopped due to poor light, the group collected equipment and moved to the city. At this time, around 20:15 local time, the glacier began to melt. The bodies of Bodrov and 105 other people have still not been found. Officially, 19 people were recognized as victims of the emergency.
  • Sergei Bodrov Jr. is a popular Russian actor and film director. He became widely known for the films “Brother”, “Brother-2”, “Prisoner of the Caucasus” and others. He was also known as a television presenter and film scriptwriter. Repeatedly received various awards in the field of cinema.

On September 20, 2002 at 20:15 local time in North Ossetia, in the gorge of the Genaldon River, a terrible tragedy occurred: the Kolka glacier, which descended from the peaks, completely destroyed dozens of towns, villages, recreation centers, and tent tourist camps. For 12 km, the ground turned into a mixture of ice, mud and boulders.

Like a bomb went off

According to experts, a giant block of ice fell from the slope of Mount Dzhimara, 4,780 meters high, and fell onto the Kolka glacier. The power of this blow was comparable to the explosion of a very serious bomb. The ice mass, along with cobblestones and mud, moved at a speed of more than 200 km per hour, covering the Karmadon Gorge with a three-hundred-meter layer of stones and ice.

It was at this time that he was known throughout the country for the films “Brother” and “Prisoner of the Caucasus” Sergey Bodrov(at that time he was called junior, so as not to be confused with his father, also a director Sergei Bodrov) together with his film crew began work on his second film “The Messenger”. Sergei was both a director, a screenwriter, and an actor who performed main role. On September 18, the filmmakers arrived in Vladikavkaz. On September 20, it was planned to film one of the scenes in the Karmadon Gorge.

There is also a fatal coincidence of circumstances in this story: filming was supposed to start at 9 am, but problems arose with transport, and the filming process was delayed. Around seven in the evening, Bodrov gave the order to continue filming tomorrow, because there was not enough natural light to work on the scene. The film crew began collecting equipment. An hour later tragedy struck.

Been looking for 2 years

The roads were blocked, and rescuers could not reach the scene of the tragedy for several hours. As a result, when the brigades, together with the residents of the surviving villages, tried to get to Bodrov’s group, they could not find anyone: mudflows 300 meters high blocked the gorge. Even with the help of drills it was not possible to penetrate deeper than 100 meters. The rescue operation lasted 3 months. Through incredible efforts, rescuers managed to find only 19 dead. Then the work was curtailed: it became dangerous for rescuers. But volunteers did not give up, continuing the search for 2 years. Camp “Nadezhda” was even set up. Actually, the hope was that the film crew managed to get to the road tunnel on the day of the tragedy and escape from the glacier there. Among the volunteers there were many fans of Bodrov: they wanted to at least bury their idol in a humane way. Residents of the surrounding villages tried very hard to help them: according to Ossetian belief, a person is considered cursed if he is not buried. But when the volunteers reached the tunnel, not a single body was there. As a result, work to search for the remains of Bodrov’s group was stopped in 2004: 2 years after the tragedy.

The terrible story that happened to the participants of the film expedition repeats what was written by Sergei Bodrov in the script of the film “The Messenger”. At the end of the film, only two heroes were supposed to survive. Moreover, it coincided that it was the actors who played these characters who returned to Moscow safe and sound. But the hero of Sergei Bodrov dies in Svyaznoy. Tragic coincidence One can also consider postponing filming a month later: the scene in the Karmadon Gorge was supposed to be filmed in August 2002, but the actor’s wife gave birth to a second child, and Bodrov, wanting to be with his family, postponed filming to September. And third: the film crew of Bodrov Jr. settled in the same hotel with other filmmakers who came to work in Vladikavkaz.

Director Yaropolk Lapshin In a nearby gorge, he was filming a disaster film about a glacier collapse that buried hundreds of people. The film was released under the title “Sel”, its original title was “Hello, brother!”

What could have led to the tragedy in the Karmadon Gorge and the death of Sergei Bodrov - people have been speculating about this for 15 years

When it became known that on September 20, 2002, Sergei Bodrov and the entire film crew of the film “Svyaznoy” died in the Karmadon Gorge during the collapse of the Kolka glacier, it caused a real shock. The tragedy gave rise to so many rumors that even now, 15 years after the incident, scientists are trying to figure out what really happened in the Greater Caucasus Mountains.

Mountains that take souls

Now, looking back, fans Sergei Bodrov everyone still wants to understand: was it possible to prevent the tragedy in the Karmadon Gorge? They talked with the employees of the Vladikavkaz hotel, from where the film crew left for their final journey. We talked with local residents who were the first to come to the rescue.

On September 20, according to the plan, only one scene had to be filmed, but everything did not work out early in the morning. According to the schedule, work on the site was planned to begin at nine in the morning, but the cars that were supposed to deliver the filmmakers to the gorge were very late. And the shooting was postponed to one o'clock in the afternoon. Many believe that if there had not been these four hours of downtime, the group would have managed to return to the city before the glacier disappeared. However, psychics contacted by relatives of the missing say that the tragedy would still have happened, even if the film crew had gone to the mountains the next day or a week later.

Local residents believe that the souls of the people in the gorge were taken away by the mountains, as people came to forbidden places. There is a legend that in the Greater Caucasus Mountains there are seven places where seven villages perished under glaciers 200 years ago. And the filmmakers found themselves on the territory of one of these ghost villages. They say that even now in the mountains you can unexpectedly stumble upon a settlement, find shelter and food there, talk with the local residents, and then, leaving the village, turn around and discover that there are no houses or people in this place. The mountaineers believe that the souls of people who died in the mountains live in such villages.

Guardian angel

Relatives of the victims, comparing the facts today, believe that people had a presentiment of the impending disaster. So, the widow of Sergei Bodrov Svetlana told reporters that she spoke with her husband on September 20. And he seemed very sad to her, somehow alarmed. His last words were parting words: “Take care of the children.”

That morning, the Muscovites were joined by actors from the Ossetian equestrian theater “Narty”. Stunt riders filmed with Bodrov back in Alexey Balabanova in the film “War”, that’s why Sergei invited them to his new film “The Messenger”. When the glacier collapsed, seven artists of this theater died, only Kazbek Bagaev. The man underwent baptism shortly before the tragedy. And he believes that his guardian angel saved him from death. Before filming on September 20, he decided to go home to his relatives, whom he had not seen for a long time, and as a result was late for departure. His horse also survived, but it did not allow the blacksmith to approach him and did not allow himself to be shoed, which is why the artists did not take him with them to the gorge.


Curse of the Spirits

Some particularly ecstatic fans believe that Sergei died because of his roles. According to the script of the film "The Messenger", his hero must die. And on the set of “War,” when they were filming a battle scene, the filmmakers accidentally set fire to an ancient Balkar cemetery, many graves were destroyed. And they say that Sergei was allegedly cursed by the spirits of that burial.

There is an even more mystical version: Bodrov’s father Sergey Vladimirovich at that time I was planning to make a film “Mongol” about Genghis Khan. And what great khan The Mongol Empire indicated to Bodrov Sr. his dissatisfaction with the death of his son. Sergei Vladimirovich himself said that before starting work, the film crew went to the main shaman and lama for permission, and also visited holy Buddhist places and made offerings.


Breaking point

There are also more scientific versions of what caused the tragedy in the Karmadon Gorge. Before the ill-fated September 20, 2002, the Kolka Glacier had not shown itself in any way for the last hundred years. At seven o'clock in the evening of that day, Bodrov's group suspended filming and began preparations for returning to the city. At 20.15 local time the glacier began to melt. In 20 minutes, the gorge and the village of Upper Karmadon were covered with a multi-meter layer of ice, mud and stones. No one managed to survive. The avalanche moved at a speed of about 180 km/h. 127 people died, including the entire film crew. Scientists have suggested that the glacier could have been triggered by several deep faults that converged at one point. But the worst thing, what pushed the glacier out of its place, was the magma that approached this giant fault. According to scientists, nowhere on Earth have there been any cases of a giant glacier weighing more than 200 million tons suddenly moving from its place. This could have been done by magma heated to 1000 degrees, accumulated in huge quantities in one place.

Search work was carried out at the site of the tragedy for several months. Relatives of the missing people lived on the glacier for two whole years. But rumors and mystical speculation are generated by the fact that the bodies of only 17 people were found. They found the remains of animals and even fragments of a car. But the bodies of the remaining 110 people were never found. These people are still listed as missing.

It is worth adding that about five years ago the mother of one of the victims told reporters: she does not believe in any mysticism. And she expressed her point of view as to why the bodies of the dead were not found. The woman believes that the icy stream flying at breakneck speed crushed everything in its path like a meat grinder. Therefore, the disappearance of the bodies of the dead cannot be called mystical.

On September 20, 2002, a tragedy occurred in the mountains of North Ossetia: the Kolka glacier claimed the lives of hundreds of people, among whom was actor Sergei Bodrov Jr. and his film crew. The film star and popular favorite was only 30 years old, many fans for a long time could not believe that he was really dead.

The bodies of the victims have not been found in 15 years, 104 people (26 of them filmmakers) are still listed as missing, and scientists have not come to a common conclusion about the cause of the tragedy.

Bodrov first came to the Caucasus in 1996, during the filming of “Prisoner of the Caucasus.” He admitted more than once that he would like to live in the mountains, but, unfortunately, this is impossible.

The film crew of the film "The Messenger". Photo doseng.org

In the fall of 2002, Sergei Bodrov returned to the Caucasus to film the film “The Messenger,” in which he acted as an actor, director and screenwriter - as he himself said, “like coffee in a bag - three in one.” On September 18, the film crew arrived in Vladikavkaz. Work was planned for September 20 in the Karmadon Gorge, where only one scene of the film had to be filmed. In the mountains, the filmmakers waited a long time for the transport that was supposed to take them up, and the start of work had to be postponed from nine in the morning to one in the afternoon. It cost the lives of everyone who was present on the set that day.

The work had to be completed around seven in the evening due to poor light. The group collected equipment and prepared to return to the city.

At 20:15 local time, an ice mass of 200 million tons fell from the spur of Mount Kazbek. In 20 minutes, the Karmadon Gorge was covered with a 300-meter layer of stones, mud and ice. The flow, reaching a speed of 200 kilometers per hour, destroyed entire villages, recreation centers and tourist camps. The village of Upper Karmadon was destroyed. More than 150 people were trapped under the rubble.

Karmadon Gorge after the tragedy. Photo magspace.ru

The road was blocked, and rescuers were able to reach the gorge only after several hours. All the residents of the surrounding villages also came to help. A three-month rescue operation resulted in only 19 bodies being recovered. For the next two years, volunteers worked at the disaster site every day. Right on the glacier they set up a camp called “Nadezhda”. According to their version, the film crew could get to the car tunnel and take shelter from the avalanche there.

Relatives of the missing insisted that holes be drilled into the 100-meter thick ice that would lead rescuers into the tunnel. It was possible to calculate the location of the tunnel only on the 20th attempt, and no traces of people were found in the tunnel. In 2004, attempts to find the dead stopped.

In March 2008, not far from the place where the filmmakers disappeared, workers found the body of a white Moskvich with human remains inside: over several years it had been washed out by water from the mudflow. Press Secretary of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of North Ossetia Vladimir Ivanov then said that it could not be a car from Bodrov’s film crew: “The Moskvich was found below the Karmadon Gate, and the film crew of the film “Svyaznoy” did not even have time to leave the gorge.”

Experts examined the bone remains and learned that the deceased was a man 45-60 years old, 175-177 centimeters tall, and had a second blood type. A local resident, 40-year-old Iranbek Tsirikhov, fit these parameters.

Sergei Bodrov on the set of “Svyaznoy”. Photo doseng.org

There are many mystical coincidences in this story. According to the script, by the end of the film “The Messenger” only two of the four main characters remained alive - and the performers of these roles (Anna Dubrovskaya and Alexander Mezentsev) were really lucky not to be present in the gorge that day. According to the script, Bodrov’s hero was supposed to die. Filming in Karmadon was planned for August, but this month Bodrov’s second child was born, and the trip was postponed to September. In Vladikavkaz, Bodrov lived in the same hotel with another film crew: in a nearby gorge, director Yaropolk Lapshin was filming a film about the collapse of a glacier that destroyed local settlements.

Karmadon Gorge after the tragedy. Photo mk.ru earthquake-today.info

What happened in the gorge

Kolka is a so-called pulsating glacier that collapses down from time to time, but it was impossible to accurately predict the time of the disaster. Scientists are still arguing about the reasons for the collapse of Kolka and have only agreed that one of the factors was gas-dynamic cracking.

Initially, experts assumed that the collapse of hanging glaciers from Kazbek was to blame, but now it is perceived as only one of the reasons. Glaciologist Lev Desinov (Institute of Geography of the Russian Academy of Sciences) insists on a coincidence of circumstances: several earthquakes caused the pulsation of ice masses, while below they were heated by an active volcanic mass. The internal melting increased the tension. And volcanic gases under pressure filled all the voids. The scientist was one of the first experts from the Ministry of Emergency Situations who flew over the glacier immediately after its collapse.

Memorial plaque at the site of the tragedy. Photo mk.ru earthquake-today.info

The mysterious circumstances of the tragedy forced many to put forward mystical versions of what happened. Some mountaineers claimed that an hour and a half after the glacier disappeared, members of the group got in touch, and there were also people who allegedly saw Bodrov alive years after the tragedy.