On June 4, a boat capsized on Lake Ladoga. Two teenagers from an overturned boat on Lake Ladoga swam to the shore themselves and asked for help. How is the rescue operation going?
On Monday evening, a motor boat carrying five teenagers capsized in Impilahti Bay on Lake Ladoga. Two young people managed to get ashore on their own; after examination, they were taken to the hospital in Sortavala with a diagnosis of hypothermia. The search for the remaining teenagers continues.
The emergency occurred in the Pitkyaranta region of Karelia. Eleventh-graders from the city of Sortavala came to visit the grandmother of one of the young people. In total there were four boys and a girl in the company. They decided to go boating and went out into the bay of Lake Ladoga without life-saving equipment. There were big waves on Ladoga that day, and while moving the boat capsized. Two teenagers swam to the nearest island, where they had previously seen tourists camping. The tourists, in turn, called the Ministry of Emergency Situations.
As the surviving teenagers said, a sixteen-year-old girl drowned before their eyes. “Nothing is known about the fate of two more members of the group; Emergencies Ministry employees and volunteers continue to search,” head of the Sortavala municipal district Sergei Krupin told Kommersant.
The surviving boys, 16 and 17 years old, were taken to the surgical department of the Sortavala Central District Hospital with hypothermia. They are now giving evidence to investigators. The Investigative Committee of the Investigative Committee for Karelia opened a criminal case under Art. 109 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (causing death by negligence to two or more persons). During the search operation, rescuers discovered a boat on which the young people went out into Lake Ladoga.
The search involves 258 people, 55 pieces of equipment, including 17 watercraft, and two helicopters. One of the helicopters arrived from St. Petersburg with deep-sea diving equipment. The issue of delivering a deep-sea vehicle is now being decided. As of 12:00 Moscow time, 9 km of the coastline were examined, the surrounding area of the tragedy was checked with the help of helicopters, as well as 12 square meters. km of the bay's water area. “The bodies of the teenagers were not found, there is hope that they are alive,” Sergei Shugaev, head of the main department of the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations for Karelia, who is heading the search operation, told a Kommersant correspondent.
Let us remind you that June 18 marked one year since the tragedy on the Karelian Syamozero. That day, a group of children under the guidance of instructors went on a water trip. A storm broke out on the lake, the boats capsized, and 14 children died.
Three days later, the court arrested the head of the Karelian Rospotrebnadzor department, Anatoly Kovalenko. He lost his position and became a defendant in a criminal case for negligence. His former deputy Lyudmila Kotovich, who received the position of acting director after Kovalenko’s arrest, is accused under the same article. Since May 2017, she has been under recognizance not to leave. The director and deputy director of the Petrozavodsk Pedagogical College, who sent students to practice at the Park-Hotel Syamozero camp, lost their positions. In the spring of 2017, paramedic Irina Shcherbakova, who took a call from dying children as a joke and did not notify the rescue service about it, was sentenced to three years in a penal colony with a suspended sentence under the article of negligence.
Now the Investigative Directorate of the Russian Federation for Karelia is conducting an investigation against the leaders of the camp “Park Hotel Syamozero”, director Elena Reshetova and her deputy Vadim Vinogradov. Both were placed in pre-trial detention. One of the camp counselors, Valery Krupoderschikov, is under recognizance not to leave the place; on that day he accompanied a group of children. He is charged under Art. 125 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (leaving in danger) and Art. 238 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (provision of services that do not meet safety requirements).
Alexey Vladimirov, Petrozavodsk
In Karelia, in the Impilahti Bay of Lake Ladoga, a boat in which there were five teenagers - four young men and a girl - capsized due to a storm. According to representatives of local authorities, the girl died, two young men managed to escape. The Ministry of Emergency Situations has not yet confirmed the death of the girl, the fate of the other two teenagers is unknown - rescuers continue the search.
RIA Novosti Press service of the Ministry of Emergency Situations for the Republic of Karelia
A boat with five teenagers capsized as a result of a storm in the Impilahti Bay of Lake Ladoga in Karelia. It contained four boys and a girl aged 15-16 years. According to preliminary data, two children managed to escape, while rescuers from the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations are looking for the other three. At the same time, local authorities report that the girl died.
“There were children aged 15-16 years, four boys and a girl, the girl died before their eyes,” Zhanna Sharets, head of the administration of the Impilakhtinsky rural settlement, told TASS.
The Ministry of Emergency Situations, however, has not yet confirmed this information. “Search work is underway, the bodies of the children have not been found, there is hope that they are alive,” the agency quotes a representative of the regional administration.
At the moment, rescuers found a boat that was brought to shore. “During the rescue operation, a boat was found and taken to shore,” the press service of the regional Ministry of Emergency Situations reported.
Volunteers and helicopters
The acting head of Karelia, Artur Parfenchikov, has already arrived at the scene, as well as inspectors from the State Inspectorate for Small Vessels (GIMS), employees of the Karelian search service, representatives of the Investigative Committee and volunteers.
“In Karelia, investigators from the Russian Investigative Committee are working at the scene of an incident on Lake Ladoga, where a boat with minors capsized,” says a message received by RT.
In total, more than 120 people are involved in the search for the missing. “In addition to the scene of the incident, an operational group of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia for the Republic of Karelia, an airmobile group of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia for the Republic of Karelia, a group of the police department for the Pitkyaranta region (123 people, 27 units of equipment)”, is specified on the website of the Ministry of Emergency Situations.
In addition, the Mi-8 helicopter from the department’s northwestern regional aviation rescue center is preparing to fly to the site.
Not from the camp
It is reported that the children who got out on the boat live in the city of Sortavala. One of the teenagers came to visit his grandmother at the dacha.
“The teenagers went fishing, the storm was strong, the boat capsized,” Sharets noted.
At the same time, in her commentary she refers to the words of surviving children. The fact that the teenagers were not from the camp is confirmed by a source in the emergency services: “They did not come to some camp, they came, according to our information, to relax with their grandmother. This is definitely not an organized group of children.”
The young men who managed to swim are currently under the supervision of emergency doctors. The issue of their hospitalization is being decided.
The parents of the teenagers have already been interviewed and are also going to the scene. “The parents of the children injured on the lake have been interviewed and are now going to the scene of the tragedy,” Leonid Gulevich, head of the Sortavala district, told TASS.
It is noted that the search for the missing will continue at night. Moreover, the wind had already died down and the waves on the lake had calmed down.
Like a year ago
The emergency on Ladoga occurred almost exactly a year after the tragedy on Syamozero, when children from the Park-Hotel Syamozero camp went with instructors for a walk along the reservoir in a canoe and raft. However, they were caught in a storm, which carried the two boats out into open water, where they capsized and the raft washed up on one of the islands.
The group then consisted of 51 people, four of them were adult accompanying people. 14 children died. At the same time, such a number of victims could have been avoided if not for paramedic Irina Shcherbakova, who did not believe the call from the surviving children. As a result of the investigation, she was sentenced to three years in a penal colony with a deferred sentence until her daughter’s 14th birthday.
In addition to her, the director of the camp, Elena Reshetova, and the head of the complex, Vadim Vinogradov, are also in custody. The Moscow Arbitration Court recovered 22.6 million rubles from the Syamozero Park Hotel.
Former head of the Karelian department of Rospotrebnadzor Anatoly Kovalenko, ex-instructor Valery Krupoderschikov, and acting head of the Rospotrebnadzor department for Karelia Lyudmila Kotovich were given a written undertaking not to leave.
The camp where the children were resting was closed, and a worship cross was erected in memory of the victims. After those events, the State Duma prepared and adopted a bill on organizing children's recreation in Russia. In particular, it proposed to develop and approve professional standards so that unprepared people would not be allowed to work with children, and also clarified the concept of “organizing children’s recreation and their health.”
In addition, the law specified the powers of federal and regional executive authorities and local governments in terms of children's recreation, including ensuring safety. The document was signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
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GIRL'S BODY FOUND
A year after the tragedy on Syamozero in Karelia, they are again looking for missing children. And again there was an emergency on the water.
On the evening of June 19, a small motor boat capsized on Lake Ladoga, in the Impilakhtinsky Bay. There were five teenagers in it: 16-year-old Nicole, 17-year-old Andrey, Kostya, Igor and 18-year-old Roma.
The incident occurred around 8 pm. Two managed to reach the shore - Andrey and Igor. It was they who told the local residents about what had happened.
Until the last moment there was hope that the other three were alive.
The tragic news came at about 16.00 on Tuesday from the headquarters of the Ministry of Emergency Situations on Lake Ladoga.
The girl’s body was found, a source familiar with the search told KP.
Let us remind you that local residents got into boats and took to the water even before the arrival of the Ministry of Emergency Situations on the evening of June 19. Alas: the first searches were unsuccessful.
The rescue operation lasted all night and is still ongoing. According to the Ministry of Emergency Situations, more than 200 rescuers are participating in the search.
Divers are working. Roman and Konstantin have not yet been found - neither alive nor dead.
“ALL THE LOCAL GOES OUT TO SEARCH”
Komsomolskaya Pravda found a local resident who was one of the first to come to the aid of the Ministry of Emergency Situations.
We arrived a little later than the official services arrived. The victims who managed to escape were already sitting in the GIMS boat. Frightened, frozen... They were handed over to doctors. And the search began,” says our interlocutor. He asked not to give his name. - All the local residents went out to search, everyone is trying to help. No one slept a wink at night.
According to him, the weather was not bad yesterday, but suddenly there was a squally wind.
Literally 20-25 minutes. Perhaps everything happened at this time. And now the weather is getting worse: it’s starting to wind, it’s cloudy,” says the volunteer.
WE WENT ON A HIKE
As KP found out, the teenagers took sleeping bags and tents with them - they were going to spend a couple of days on one of the islands.
The boat was driven by Igor. Apparently, it belongs to his father.
I only know the fact that they went to the island for two days. We were going to celebrate Nicole’s birthday – she turned 16 on June 19,” schoolgirl Ksenia R., who knows all five teenagers well, told Komsomolskaya Pravda.
Nicole just passed the State final certification based on the results of 9th grade. Kostya, Andrey and Igor graduated from 10th grade. The oldest is 18-year-old Roman. He graduated from school this year.
Roma and Nicole have been dating for almost two years. This June hike is a kind of gift to a girl in honor of her 16th birthday. At the same time, we planned to celebrate the end of the school year.
According to Ksenia, the guys invited her with them. But the girl refused. It probably saved her life.
CHANGEABLE WEATHER
On the morning of June 19, the whole company arrived in the village of Impilahti, on the shores of Lake Ladoga - Igor’s grandmother lives here. But they got into the boat only in the evening. Why?
KP does not yet have an answer to this question. It is possible that they were simply waiting for the rain to stop. There are white nights in Karelia now, and the guys understood that even at night they would not get lost.
But the weather in these parts is harsh.
The weather was very changeable. The last few days have been either rain or sun. A terrible wind blew for two days. It was in vain that they swam in such weather,” Ksenia worries.
"I COULD NOT CONTROL"
It is still unknown which island the guys were heading to. There are quite a lot of them on Lake Ladoga.
But it is already known who was driving the boat at the time of the emergency - it was Andrey. Investigators have already talked to him.
Literally before the incident, they came out of the bay into open water, and unfortunately, the owner of the boat (we are talking about Igor - editor's note) handed over control to his friend, who almost immediately failed and allowed the craft to capsize, the acting head of Karelia said on Tuesday afternoon Arthur Parfenchikov.
Let us add: Andrei and Igor were hospitalized, their lives are not in danger. The water temperature in Lake Ladoga now does not exceed 12 degrees.
The search covers the entire bay, without any specifics,” Alexey Tkachev, a specialist in the press service of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Emergency Situations for Karelia, told KP.
Press Secretary of the Investigative Committee of Karelia Vitaly Konovalov could not provide KP with any details. A criminal case was opened under the article “causing death by negligence of two or more persons.”
OFFICIAL: THE OWNER OF THE BOAT AND THE ONE WHO DRIVED IT WERE SAVED
Acting Head of the Republic of Karelia Artur Parfenchikov:
The search for the three missing people is now being carried out by 258 people, 55 pieces of equipment, including two MI-8 helicopters, inspecting the waters of Lake Ladoga from the air.
Information about the incident arrived fairly quickly; there were many vacationers and watercraft near the scene of the incident. Within half an hour, teams of volunteers were organized, which made it possible to quickly locate the second surviving young man.
We can immediately state that this is a coincidence of circumstances, as happens in accidents. Five young people: four boys and a girl, celebrated a girl’s birthday. We took a boat with a motor and drove along the channels around the islands. Shortly before the incident, they decided to go out onto the open water of Lake Ladoga, and the owner of the boat handed over control to his friend. He lost control and the boat capsized.
The situation is complicated by the fact that at the supposed location of the incident the depth reaches 30-40 meters and there is a strong current. The boat was discovered a few hours after the incident, 6 km from the supposed crash site - it is obvious that the current is very strong. I personally conducted a survey of local residents, they say that this is not the first case in these places, and, unfortunately, often bodies are not found due to the strong current and depth.
The guys who escaped - they swam. It's a miracle. But I believe that the investigative authorities should evaluate this frivolity - the owner of the boat and the one who was driving the boat at the time of the crash were saved.
OPINION: THERE WERE NO BIG WAVES
Deputy Director of the pilgrimage service of the Valaam Monastery Vladimir Rudin, who oversees the issues of navigation to the island of Valaam:
Passenger ships with a capacity of more than a hundred people are one thing. Another thing is the small fleet, boats. For boats, Ladoga, of course, poses a great danger. Although yesterday or the day before yesterday there was no big wave: I think the matter was completely different.
As a rule, unexpected weather phenomena - it was quiet and suddenly it blew sharply - do not happen. At least, if it inflates, then for at least two to three hours. During this time, you can leave and hide in a coastal shelter.
True, if the boat is slow-moving and if it is in open water, twenty kilometers from the land, then it will not have time to hide. Because a meter wave is a huge danger for a boat, especially for inexperienced sailors. And children usually do not adequately assess waves and their own strengths, especially in the company of girls.
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Search operation on Lake Ladoga. Video: Russian Emergency Situations Ministry
Two of the five teenagers managed to reach the shore on their own. More than 200 people are involved in the search and rescue operation. Doctors deny information that the children were intoxicated
Search and rescue operations on Lake Ladoga. Photo: Press service of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia/TASS
Updated 12:00
The possible cause of the tragedy on Lake Ladoga has been established. As the Mash Telegram channel reports, Igor D., while driving a motor boat, turned the boat too sharply and was capsized by a wave. Five teenagers ended up in the water.
Igor himself and 17-year-old Andrei Zh. swam to the shore and were able to call for help. Rescuers and divers are now looking for the girl Nicole and two other boys.
According to Mash, on the evening of June 19, five teenagers celebrated the birthday of 16-year-old Nicole. The father of the surviving child denies the information that the children had alcohol. Yuri Zhiltsov told Ren TV about this:
“The children went camping this morning. In the evening I was informed about what had happened. As far as I knew, they were just going on a hike. They didn’t celebrate anything with alcohol in order to relieve all sorts of turmoil, which they are already writing on the Internet that they were celebrating a birthday. No, they are completely sober, they did blood tests, there is no alcohol. The boat capsized, they tried to escape, realized that they could not escape, and began to try to swim out. 70 meters, maybe more. One immediately swam to the shore, the son stayed behind, tried to save the girl, began to swim up to her and saw that she was no longer there. According to him, before his eyes, before he could swim to the girl, she sank to the bottom. They saw that the other two swam to the shore, but when they swam ashore, they did not find them.”
The two rescued teenagers are in moderate condition. Their lives are not in danger, press secretary of the head of the region Marina Kabatyuk told RIA Novosti. Psychologists work with them. A general diagnosis was made - hypothermia. Earlier it was reported that two teenagers were sent to the Sortavala Central Hospital.
In total, there were five teenagers aged 15-17 years old in the motor boat - four boys and a girl. The fate of three of them is unknown. Search and rescue efforts continue. They may be complicated by weather conditions - winds of 8-9 meters per second are expected. As weather forecasters say, in such cases the wave height is about half a meter.
On the day when the emergency happened, there was also a strong wind and it was impossible to go out into open Ladoga, Zhanna Sharets, the head of the Impilakhtinsky rural settlement where the tragedy occurred, told Business FM.
Zhanna Sharets head of the Impilakhtinsky rural settlement“More than 200 people are involved in the search and rescue operation. Yesterday there was information that the girl had a birthday, but I asked the doctors - the children were sober. Of course, they will still take samples, but there was no alcohol in appearance. They came from Sortavala to Sumeria, to visit their grandmother in the village, went fishing along the river that goes to Ladoga, and went into open Ladoga, but lost control. Yesterday there was bad weather, a very strong wind around lunchtime, so I think it was impossible to go out into open Ladoga.”
As experts say, the water temperature on Ladoga is now at 13 degrees: in such conditions a person can survive for no more than two to three hours. Is it possible to take some measures to prevent such emergencies from happening?
Arseny Avdyukov curator of distance learning for the State Inspectorate for Small Vessels (GIMS)“The spaces are large; it is hardly possible to assign a GIMS inspector to every boat that comes out. I think that the only way to prevent such incidents is control in the areas where small vessels are based. In general, this is included in the regulations; GIMS must monitor the mooring areas of boats. Before setting sail, the boat must inform where it is going, how many people are on board, and only after that go somewhere. If no one warned anyone, nothing can be done about it. Many people store boats not only in yacht clubs, but also on their own plots or simply on the shore in hangars. On Ladoga, the weather conditions change quite quickly, especially if you don’t pay close attention to the weather: it looks like the sun is shining, a black cloud was gathering on the horizon - in a couple of hours there will be a good wind. If the height of the wave is equal to the width of the boat, then capsizing is inevitable if the wave hits the side. If the boat is also moving on planing, then capsizing is quite possible. As I understand it, the punishment will be for causing death by negligence, the same as if you hit someone with a car. Not all boats require a license. If the total weight of the boat is less than 200 kilograms and the engine power is less than 8 kilowatts, then it does not need to be registered and a license is not required for such a boat. GIMS inspectors are obliged to ensure safety in the area of their supervision, even if you go on a raft. They should come over, make sure you have life jackets and are wearing them, and that there are no dangerous weather conditions ahead. If they are, you should be warned or advised not to go too far from the shore. But there are few inspectors, and besides, if I’m not mistaken, Sunday and Monday are days off.”
Currently, 264 people and 55 pieces of equipment are involved in search and rescue operations. A criminal case has been opened regarding the emergency on Lake Ladoga in Karelia.
The area of the lake without islands is about 189 thousand square kilometers, the depth is uneven - from 20 meters to 230 meters.
A year ago, on June 19, a storm on Syamozero in Karelia killed 14 children and one adult who were on a hiking trip.
In Karelia, rescuers have been searching for 24 hours for teenagers whose boat capsized on Lake Ladoga. Two managed to survive, the fate of three more is unknown. Searches along the coastline did not yield any results; the water area is now being examined using boats and divers are working. Well, investigators are finding out how it happened that the minors went on a boat trip alone, on a motor boat, which they could not have a license to drive. Coincidentally, all this happened exactly a year after the tragedy on Syamozero, where the children died. Once again, a careless attitude to safety rules is cited as a likely reason.
In photographs from social networks, those same five teenagers - four young men and a girl - are in the same boat yesterday, a few hours before the tragedy. At night, rescuers will find the motorboat in the lake. The nearest shore is 500 meters away. The distance did not seem to be very large, but taking into account the fact that in the evening there were meter-long waves across Ladoga, wind gusts reached 15 meters per second, and the water temperature did not exceed only 12 degrees, it was almost impossible to get out - it was almost impossible to stay afloat.
“Despite the worsening weather conditions, search work continues. We hope to still see the three missing young people alive. A jacket was found, an oar was found, a boat was found,” said Sergei Shugaev, head of the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations for Karelia.
The nights in Karelia are now as bright as day - white nights. In the quiet narrow bay near the village of Impelahti there were no signs of trouble. The storm began when the boat entered the waters of Ladoga, a wave capsized the side. Two boys, 16 and 17 years old, Igor and Andrey, were able to get out of the water. They raised the alarm. The father of one of the survivors says: once overboard, the teenagers tried to save each other, but the waves scattered everyone in different directions in an instant.
“Igor swam out and ran to the fishermen, and Andrei at that time tried to save the girl. It was far from the shore, the water was very cold,” said the victim’s father, Yuri Zhiltsov.
Andrei’s father did not know that his son would go on a boat trip with friends - the talk was that a group of friends from the city of Sortavala would gather at the dacha to celebrate Nicole’s 16th birthday. But as it turns out now, the company had planned a holiday on the island in advance.
“Yesterday it was Nicole’s birthday, and they went to celebrate at the dacha, went to the boy Igor Danilovich for two days. Roma asked me for a sleeping bag so that he could go here a couple of days ago,” said Ksenia Romanova, a classmate of one of the guys.
Friends who were not invited to the birthday party knew about the upcoming hike and saw that the weather was changing every day. They themselves did not believe that the young people decided to go out into the lake. After all, they all grew up in Karelia - from childhood they know how treacherous the local waters are, the storm begins suddenly.
“This is the place where the tragedy occurred, this is, after all, the so-called open Ladoga. On this day there were heavy gusts of wind, which may have contributed to the excitement in Lake Ladoga,” said the head of the city of Sortavala, Sergei Krupin.
And the safety precautions - getting into a boat only in life jackets - is known to everyone. Here in the photo taken last year, Igor - one of those who managed to get out - is wearing a vest. Yesterday, judging by the photo, teenagers went into the lake without rescue equipment.
“The wind has been crazy for two days. I don’t know how it was possible to get on the boat in such weather - sometimes it’s raining, sometimes the sun is shining,” says Ksenia.
By a fateful coincidence, this emergency on Ladoga occurred on the anniversary of the tragedy on Syamozero, which is also located in Karelia. Then in a storm in cold water. Three of the boat that capsized the day before remain missing. Therefore, the search and rescue operation continues.