Death of children on Syamozero. A year after the tragedy. Tragedy on Syamozero in Karelia: fourteen dead children Tragedy on a lake in Karelia June
At least 10 people died as a result of a boat accident on Lake Syamozero in Karelia.
“According to preliminary data, two boats capsized. There were 26 people in them (two adults, the rest children). 10 children died, 13 people were saved. The search for three more people, including one adult, continues,” a source told Interfax.
It is known that the boats were caught in a storm on Saturday evening.
Dog kennel employees rescued 11 children after a boat crash on Syamozero
11 children were able to get out of the water after a boat crash on a lake in Karelia. They spent the night on the island, and in the morning they were picked up by an employee of a dog kennel in Kudam, reports the local publication Respublika.
“The children were already freezing, it was difficult to wake them up,” said the owner of the nursery, Natalya Stolyarova.
According to her, two children had to undergo emergency medical care. For now, all the saved children are in Kudam.
Sobyanin: the children who died in Karelia were from Moscow
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin tweeted that the children who died in a boat accident in Karelia were from Moscow.
According to him, representatives of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, doctors and psychologists, and the head of the social protection department are sent from Moscow to Karelia. The Moscow mayor also published the hotline numbers of the Ministry of Emergency Situations and Social Security. Sobyanin wrote that he gave orders to further check the safety of the resting places of Moscow children.
SK: 11 children and one adult died as a result of a boat crash in Karelia
Ten children and one adult died after a boat crashed on Syamozero during a storm, the Investigative Committee reports.
“According to preliminary data, on June 18, 2016, participants of the children’s health camp “Park-Hotel Syamozero” on boats were caught in a storm on a pond. There were 47 children and four adult instructors on three boats. During a trip on the lake, the boats capsized and sank as a result, 11 children and 1 instructor died,” the department’s website says.
According to the Investigative Committee, the rescue operation is currently ongoing.
The Investigative Committee opened a criminal case after the death of children on a lake in Karelia
The Investigative Committee opened a criminal case after the death of children on Syamozero in Karelia. RIA Novosti reports this with reference to the department.
“The Investigative Committee of Russia opened a criminal case under Article 238 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation regarding the death of tourists in Karelia,” the message says.
This article provides for punishment for performing work or providing services that do not meet the requirements for the safety of life or health of consumers. If these actions negligently resulted in the death of two or more people, the sanctions of this article provide for punishment in the form of forced labor for up to five years or imprisonment for up to ten years.
The Investigative Committee also reports that one of the instructors who accompanied the children was detained.
According to preliminary data, on June 18, participants in the children's health camp “Park Hotel Syamozero” (47 children and four adults) on boats were caught in a storm on the lake. During the trip, the boats capsized and sank.
Investigators and criminologists from the central office of the Investigative Committee went to the scene of the incident. The investigation into this case is under the control of the head of the department, Alexander Bastrykin. Investigators plan to give a legal assessment of the actions of the children's camp staff and others responsible for organizing children's boating in bad weather.
The Ministry of Emergency Situations reported the rescue of 36 people on a lake in Karelia
During a search operation in the area of Lake Syamozero in Karelia, 36 people were rescued, the fate of four more is unknown. RIA Novosti reports this with reference to the Ministry of Emergency Situations.
A representative of the regional headquarters of the Ministry of Emergency Situations told the agency that of the 36 people rescued, 25 are on the island, another 11 are in the village of Kudoma.
Ministry of Emergency Situations: tourists caught in a storm on a lake in Karelia went on a hike without warning
A group of tourists who were caught in a storm on the Karelian Lake Syamozero was not registered. Interfax reports this with reference to the North-West Regional Center of the Ministry of Emergency Situations.
“The group was not registered and went on a hike to the lake without warning the rescuers,” said a representative of the center.
Astakhov: not all children caught in the storm may have had life jackets
Not all children caught in a storm on Karelian Lake Syamozero might have had life jackets, suggested Children's Rights Commissioner Pavel Astakhov. His representative is at the scene of the incident, RIA Novosti reports.
“It seems that the children who died were simply without life jackets. Those who were wearing life jackets swam out,” Astakhov said.
According to him, it is now becoming clear who allowed the children to go on this hike, and whether everyone was provided with means of rescue. It also turns out “who planned this departure in the first place, whether the routes were coordinated, whether the weather was coordinated, whether the Ministry of Emergency Situations was notified that they were leaving.” Astakhov noted that all this should have been done by the organizers of such trips.
He also said that the office of the Commissioner for Children's Rights, together with the Moscow authorities, is deciding the issue of ensuring the transportation of the bodies of children who died in Karelia.
The head of the Karelian village where the children's camp is located rejected the version of a shortage of life jackets
All those who died during a storm on a lake in Karelia were wearing life jackets, said Andrei Orekhanov, the head of the Essoil rural settlement, on whose territory there is a children's camp. Interfax reports this.
“All the dead and those rescued were wearing life jackets. Apparently, they choked or died from hypothermia,” Orekhanov told the agency.
The head of the Essoil rural settlement noted that he is now at the scene of the incident. Law enforcement officers also work there.
Ministry of Health: five children injured on a lake in Karelia were hospitalized
Five children who were injured during a storm on the Karelian Lake Syamozero were hospitalized in hospitals in Karelia. Interfax reports this with reference to the official representative of the Ministry of Health Oleg Salagay.
“Everyone is provided with the necessary medical care. The reasons for hospitalization are hypothermia, minor injuries, stress,” Salagay clarified.
Previously, he reported that the head of the Ministry of Health, Veronika Skvortsova, personally monitors the work of the regional department to provide the necessary assistance to the victims. Skvortsova also instructed the chief psychiatrist of the Ministry of Health, Zurab Kekelidze, to organize the provision of psychological assistance to the relatives and friends of the victims, both in Karelia and in Moscow.
The Respublika agency reported complaints about the camp on Syamozero, where children died
In the Karelian park hotel "Syamozero", where the children's camp is located, the participants of which were caught in a storm on the lake, inspections were carried out several times: parents complain about the conditions in which their children live there. This was reported by the local news agency Respublika.
“The Syamozero Park Hotel in Karelia has long had a bad reputation. Parents of children vacationing there complained about the living conditions. Children spend the night there in tents, practically in the open air,” writes Respublika. In July 2015, the agency wrote about the complaints that led to the inspection.
The agency clarifies that the park hotel belongs to the tour operator Karelia-Open, which offers several recreation programs for children and youth on Lake Syamozero. According to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, the founder of the company registered in Petrozavodsk is Galina Lisina.
In Karelia, June 20 was declared a day of mourning for those killed on the lake
The head of Karelia, Alexander Khudilainen, declared June 20 a day of mourning in connection with the deaths of people on the Karelian Lake Syamozero, expressing grief for the victims and condolences to their families and friends. This is reported
It was previously reported that Khudilainen headed to the scene of the incident. It was also reported that his first deputy and Prime Minister of the Government of Karelia Oleg Telnov and Telnov’s deputy Valentina Ulich are participating in the work of the operational headquarters.
As the head of Karelia noted, the most important thing is the search and rescue operation and assistance to the victims. He also stated the need to tighten security measures at water bodies as much as possible - primarily in places of public recreation.
In Karelia, the evacuation of children vacationing in a camp on a lake began
Of the 49 vacationers in the camp on the Karelian Lake Syamozero, 12 children have already been evacuated. Another 25 children are being evacuated to a place safe from the storm, as reported on the official portal of Karelia.
The message clarifies that the bodies of 11 dead children were discovered, and the fate of another child is still unknown. A meeting of the operational headquarters will soon begin at the Crisis Management Center of the Ministry of Emergency Situations for Karelia to resolve organizational issues.
One of those missing during a storm on a lake in Karelia was found alive
One of those who disappeared during a storm on the Karelian Lake Syamozero was found alive. This was reported by RIA Novosti with reference to a representative of the regional Main Directorate of the Ministry of Emergency Situations.
“One person was found alive. He is now in the virgin lands in the village of Kudama. The fate of three more remains unknown,” the agency’s interlocutor said.
TASS: the death toll on a lake in Karelia has increased to 14 people
Rescuers found the bodies of three children who were considered missing during a storm on the Karelian Lake Syamozero. TASS reports this with reference to the emergency services of Karelia.
“Three bodies of dead children were found. Thus, the total number of victims of this tragedy has reached 14 people, only one of them is an adult,” the agency’s interlocutor said.
An Interfax agency source in the emergency services reported that the search for those missing during the storm on the lake had been completed. The press service of the North-West Regional Center of the Ministry of Emergency Situations told the agency that now out of the 25 children who remained on the island, the last ten are being transported to the shore.
The Investigative Committee reported on the search for two suspects in the deaths of children on a lake in Karelia
Investigators are taking measures to search for and detain two people hiding from the investigation in the case of the death of children on a lake in Karelia, as well as those who were the direct organizer of the children’s vacation. Earlier it became known that one suspect had been detained, it was reported
The Investigative Committee also confirmed that the number of victims had increased to 14 people: 13 children and one instructor were killed. The official representative of the department, Vladimir Markin, expressed condolences to the families and friends of the deceased children.
The investigation found that the children's holiday in Karelia was organized by the Park Hotel Syamozero company, which won a competition for the holiday based on the results of a tender held by the Moscow Department of Labor and Social Protection of the Population. Markin noted that the investigation will check what kind of competition it was and by what criteria this company was selected. He added that “careful clarification also requires the personnel that the company hired to work with children, the level of training of teachers and instructors.”
Rostourism: among those killed in Karelia were children from disadvantaged Moscow families
The group of children caught in a storm on the Karelian Lake Syamozero was not a tourist group: among them were orphans and children from disadvantaged families who arrived through the Moscow social protection authorities. Interfax reports this with reference to the press service of Rostourism.
“The group included orphans and children from disadvantaged families aged 12-15 years. A trip to the Park Hotel Syamozero camp was organized for them through the Moscow social protection authorities, and a tender was announced for this tour. The organizer was not a travel agency, but a legal entity,” the press service said.
According to Rostourism, all organizations that worked with tourist groups have not allowed clients to go out on the water since June 17 due to a storm warning.
The Investigative Committee announced the arrest of two more suspects in the deaths of children in Karelia
In the case of the death of 13 children and one instructor during a storm on the Karelian lake Syamozero, three suspects were detained: instructors Regina Ivanova and Lyudmila Vasilyeva, as well as deputy director of the Syamozero park hotel Vadim Vinogradov. This was reported on the website of the Investigative Committee.
Now the necessary investigative actions are being carried out with the detainees, and the issue of choosing a preventive measure will soon be decided. The Investigative Committee’s report notes that “it is already quite obvious to the investigation that the instructors who directly accompanied the children on the hike are clearly responsible for their safety.” The department explained that they were among the first to be detained, since the fate of the children directly depended on their actions.
As noted in the message of the Investigative Committee, back on June 17, the Ministry of Emergency Situations warned of showers, thunderstorms and wind gusts of up to 17-20 meters per second in most regions of Karelia. The investigation will determine whether the instructors had this information and why they did not assess wind speed and other weather conditions before the trip.
The Investigative Committee recommended that everyone involved in organizing the campaign independently and immediately appear before the investigators to give evidence. The Investigative Committee also notes that security issues in this camp have been the subject of investigation before: in 2011, the deputy director of the camp beat a guard to death after drinking alcohol together on the camp grounds. He is currently serving a 13-year sentence.
All 14 killed in a boat accident in Karelia were children
Among those killed in the boat crash on Syamozero were only children; It was previously reported that the victims included 13 children and one adult.
“At the moment, investigators have completed an examination of the bodies of 14 victims and have established that all of them are camp students born in 2002-2004. There are no adults among the dead,” reports the head of the press service of the Investigative Committee, Vladimir Markin.
According to him, from this we can conclude that none of the instructors accompanying the children made the necessary efforts to save the minors. The instructors thought only about saving their own lives.
The director of the Syamozero park hotel was detained in the case of the death of children in Karelia.
In the case of the death of children during a storm on a Karelian lake, four suspects were detained, including the director of the Syamozero park hotel Elena Reshetova, her deputy and two instructors. This was reported on the website of the Investigative Committee.
Investigators have completed examining the bodies of 14 victims. It has been established that all of them are camp inmates born in 2002-2004; there are no adults among the dead.
“This once again confirms that, in general, none of the instructors accompanying the children made the necessary efforts to save the children, but were thinking about saving their own lives,” says Vladimir Markin, the official representative of the Investigative Committee.
He noted that “it is already quite obvious to the investigation that the instructors who accompanied the children on the hike are clearly responsible for their safety,” since the fate of the children directly depended on their actions, and the director of the park hotel and her deputy were responsible for direct organization of recreation.
Astakhov reported 15 dead on a lake in Karelia
According to the latest data, 15 children died during a storm on a lake in Karelia, Children's Rights Commissioner Pavel Astakhov said on Twitter.
There is no official confirmation of this information yet. According to the Investigative Committee, 14 children died during a storm on a Karelian lake.
Putin expressed condolences over the deaths of children in Karelia
President Vladimir Putin expressed deep condolences in connection with the tragedy on the Karelian lake, which resulted in the death of children. Interfax reports this with reference to presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov.
“The president was informed through emergency channels about the rescue operation that was launched after the tragedy that occurred in Karelia,” Peskov said.
According to him, during the day Putin repeatedly contacted the head of the Ministry of Emergency Situations Vladimir Puchkov, Deputy Prime Minister Olga Golodets and Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin. The President also instructed to organize assistance to the victims and relatives of the victims. Putin instructed the Investigative Committee to find out the causes of the tragedy and find those responsible.
Children rescued from the lake were taken to Petrozavodsk
Children rescued from Karelian Lake Syamozero were taken to Petrozavodsk. Interfax reports this with reference to the regional Main Directorate of the Ministry of Emergency Situations.
“All the rescued children were taken to Petrozavodsk, they were placed in a temporary detention center. Doctors and psychologists are working with them,” said the Ministry of Emergency Situations in Karelia.
Also, according to the agency, there are five victims in Petrozavodsk. Two were hospitalized at the Republican Children's Hospital, and three more were hospitalized at the Infectious Diseases Hospital. Their condition is monitored by doctors.
Chief psychiatrist of the Ministry of Health: identification of children killed in Karelia will most likely take place in Moscow
The identification of children who died during a storm on the Karelian Lake Syamozero will most likely be carried out in Moscow. Interfax reports this with reference to the chief psychiatrist of the Ministry of Health, head of the Serbsky Center for Psychiatry and Narcology Zurab Kekelizde.
According to him, specialists are preparing to provide psychological assistance to the relatives of the victims: they will help with the identification procedure, and will also accompany those who decide to go to Karelia.
“If there are several families, one of our doctors will go with them. If more come, we will send more employees,” Kekelidze said.
Earlier, he said that the Serbsky center has a hotline where you can get help around the clock: 8-495-637-70-70. Also, the center’s staff is ready to provide the victims and relatives of the victims with all the necessary outpatient and inpatient care.
At a meeting on Sunday, the head of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, Vladimir Puchkov, said that at 23:00 an Il-76 plane would fly to Karelia to deliver the bodies of children who died during the storm on the lake.
Greetings, friends! To be honest, I did not want to express my opinion on the recent deaths of children in Karelia. The tragedy at Syamozero is not the first to happen to children in summer health camps.
Unfortunately, the tragedy that occurred on June 18 in Karelia is not an isolated incident, therefore, it makes sense to talk about the system for organizing summer holidays for children. But be that as it may, the children’s lives cannot be brought back and this is a great tragedy.
In this case, there are a lot of so-called “dark spots” that I do not understand, perhaps this is due to the fact that there is no complete information, or perhaps due to the dosed presentation of information by the media, I missed something.
So, on June 18, 2016, in the evening, children participating in the camp (47 people), under the guidance of instructors (4 people), went on a boat trip along Syamozero. As a result of the storm, the boats capsized and children ended up in the water.
One of the camp participants managed to get ashore, and she notified the residents of a nearby village about what had happened. Village residents informed the Ministry of Emergency Situations and began a rescue operation.
As a result of the rescue operation, 37 people were saved, 13 people died, and 1 boy was listed as missing. The search for him is currently ongoing, involving over 300 employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations and volunteers from among local residents.
Investigation underway
At the moment, the director of the camp and her deputy, who were directly responsible for the process of organizing the stay of children in the camp, have been detained. Just yesterday one of the instructors was released.
The process of investigative measures is quite long, and gradually more and more new facts will emerge about the organization of children's recreation. But it is already clear that the conditions of the children’s stay at the Syamozero Park Hotel were quite difficult; according to the children’s words on TV, they were generally spartan.
The participants in this investigative process shift responsibility onto each other, this is, in principle, logical; now documents and local acts that were drawn up in the camp will be of great importance. Who, roughly speaking, was responsible for what?
Or maybe there are a lot more people to blame than it seems?
It seems to me that the organization of summer holidays for children should be carried out more seriously. Now it is not clear to me whether there was a storm warning for June 18th. Some media reports say that SMS alerts were sent out. But these are children, what kind of warnings? Couldn’t it have been possible to make a detour and warn them personally with a signature?
Who even opened such a camp? Who allowed this organization to engage in summer recreation for children if the camp does not meet any requirements? How were the contracts concluded? Did someone come and check whether the level of services that were stated corresponded?
If the camp is so bad, then how did he even receive a conclusion from Rospotrebnadzor? Our school is regularly inspected once a year and they do not turn a blind eye to even minor violations. How did it happen that this camp operated for more than a year?
Many note that the counselors were only slightly older than the children. And look at our army - there are 19-year-old boys already performing great feats. Yes, if a person does not master survival techniques, then in 4 hours of instructional classes he will not master it, but again, how did it happen that the instructors and counselors could do little? Who hired them? Who checked their skill level?
Of course, now, after the tragedy, many student trainees who worked in this camp loudly say that they were forced to do a lot, especially what they did not know how to do. Is there evidence of this? Remember that in court the pieces of paper and the signatures on them will decide. Why did they start talking about this problem only now, after the tragedy?
There are a lot of dark spots in this whole tragedy. And the most important thing is that no one learns from mistakes. After the tragedy, I already heard that checks had been sent to all camps. Everything! Couldn't you have done the same before the race? Is it really impossible to take the organization a little more seriously, why aren’t measures taken to prevent such tragedies?
Now the question arises about organizing the boat trip itself. I read a little about the weather on Syamozero and Karelia, the wind there can rise spontaneously, i.e. suddenly. And when the wind increases, the excitement increases accordingly. That is, at the time the hike began, there was probably no excitement.
But even if it arose spontaneously, you still need to figure out whether there was an opportunity to stop this campaign. One more point: in our education, according to instructions, there should be one accompanying person for every 10 people, but this, as a rule, is not enough. Especially for a hike.
And on the boat trip there was at least 1 accompanying person missing. And another question arises: should the camp have reported its trip to the Ministry of Emergency Situations? Even if he shouldn’t, then why didn’t the instructors immediately call the Ministry of Emergency Situations after everything happened? Why did only a 12-year-old girl think of this?
I am not saying that people violated some instructions and rules, it is possible that they were also in shock, this needs to be understood and a sober assessment of the situation. The very fact that this was not done automatically (they did not report what happened) indicates insufficient preparation of the elders on the campaign.
Well, in conclusion, I want to speak for myself personally. I clearly understand what a children’s camp is and you couldn’t lure me into the camp either as a counselor or an instructor, I wouldn’t even go as a leader. Why? Because this is a big responsibility, because children need to be monitored around the clock and you still can’t keep track of them, and because anything can happen.
But this is my opinion, I already have a lot of experience, but still, these things need to be understood and be aware of whether it’s worth taking the risk or not. And college students, of course, don’t know about this; they had to undergo an internship so as not to be expelled from college.
I’m wondering how the person who said that the practice won’t count, will be expelled, etc. will now look into the eyes of these boys and girls who have faced such tragedy?
How can parents and guardians of deceased children cope with such a loss? How do you even live with this? Such tragedies give rise to many questions, but, unfortunately, the most important ones are hidden in the shadow of emotions - how to protect children’s summer holidays? Until this issue is resolved, if I were the parents, I would not send their children to the camp.
Well, I’ll finish my article for today. I wanted to write briefly and without emotion, but, unfortunately, I didn’t succeed. The most important idea of this publication is that there is no need to spend a lot of effort on finding and punishing the guilty, there are more to blame than it might initially seem. The main thing now is to create a system that would make it possible to protect children’s recreation.
Subscribe to my blog updates, share publications with friends on social networks, take care of yourself and your loved ones, pay attention to safe recreation on the water. Until we meet again, bye-bye.
Today marks exactly one year since the tragedy on the Karelian Syamozero. On June 18, 2016, a group of children under the guidance of instructors set off from the children’s camp “Park Hotel Syamozero” on a water trip. A storm broke out on the lake, the boats capsized, and 14 children died. The first rescuers were residents of the village of Kudama. Thanks to them, an even greater tragedy was avoided. A year later, they remember the tragic events and do everything possible to preserve the memory of the victims. The "" correspondent went to Kudama on the eve of the anniversary of the tragedy and talked with the people's heroes.
Kudama
Time flows calmly in Kudam: local residents dig in their gardens, children play in a puddle, sometimes someone rides a bicycle through the streets. And it’s as if that terrible tragedy didn’t happen here a year ago, as if these people didn’t take the cold bodies of children out of the water, as if they didn’t warm up those who survived the storm and swam ashore. But when you start communicating with people, you understand: the pain of June 18, 2016 is still alive, and all this regularity is just powder on top of a wound that is just beginning to heal.
Administrator of the recreation center “Quiet Lake” Tatyana Kustysheva flips through the pages in the guest book. Tatyana shows a couple of lines written a year ago:
"Thanks for the welcome! You helped us a lot, good luck in the prosperity of the cafe! With love, Karelia OPEN , 2nd squad."
This was written by children from the camp, says Tatyana. - We only noticed this modest entry after their departure.
On the morning of June 19, 2016, Tatyana, together with other base employees, literally saved children from cold and hunger. The men heated the bathhouse, the women prepared the food. The first eleven children who washed ashore were warmed up with brooms in the bathhouse and hot tea.
Someone's temperature immediately rose, one girl was simply burning with heat. Apparently, she was very cold, and after the bath the body reacted like this. After the bath, right in the administration building, we moved the sofas and armchairs together, they all lay together and... cried.
At first, Tatyana talks about last year’s events somehow easily and simply. He says that at first it was scary to think about what happened, but now it’s easier to remember. And yet, with each new detail, Tatyana’s pauses in her speech become longer.
Tatyana Kustysheva Our forest is pine, but they walked barefoot, walking on needles. Then these needles were taken out of each other’s legs... One girl was all scratched up - she was thrown onto the island, in order not to freeze, she tore spruce branches and covered herself with them at night... Many were bruised. There were waves that day, and the shore here was rocky, it was so easy to catch on the stones, so they were pounding... And one girl, she cried the most. She told me that her parents sent her to this camp to distract her from the death of her grandfather. He drowned a month ago, and now she... It’s some kind of wild fate,” says Tatyana.
For saving children in last year’s tragedy, Tatyana and four other employees of the base in Kudam received medals and certificates on June 15, 2017. The modest watchman Vladimir Dorofeev also received the medal “For saving the dead.” It was he who, on his morning walk around the base, found the children on the shore of the lake.
“I don’t like all these interviews of yours,” Vladimir begins our conversation. - Yes, and I don’t like to remember that day either.
Vladimir Dorofeev According to Vladimir, when he found the first five guys and found out that there were 19 people in the group, he realized that something terrible had happened.
First, they found five children with a boy instructor, then another girl on the island, then Andrei Severikov went to other islands,” says Vladimir. - And when we found their location, it turned out that this was not a location, but something in general that was not clear...
"Museum of Angels"
The tragedy at Syamozero really changed the life of quiet Kudama. The grief that the storm brought them on June 18 is still experienced by many to this day. Elena Yakunenkova did not participate in rescuing the survivors. Together with her neighbors, she pulled the bodies of the dead from the water.
The first girl we picked up had a blue rubber band in her hair, she was wearing a vest, and the rest were all without vests,” says Elena. - And one, the smallest boy, was wearing nothing but swimming trunks.
Elena remembers almost every detail on the bodies of the seven children that she pulled out of the water. He just doesn’t remember their faces. He says it was too hard to look at them. He remembers that everyone was taken out with the hope that at least someone was still breathing.
I take the first girl, and she is still tiny and warm, I shout that she may still be alive, but she is no longer... And when the rescuers arrived, we asked why they were all swimming on the surface, even without vests, and they told us because the water did not get into their lungs, they died from the cold.
Elena Yakunenkova Today Elena knows the names and faces of all 14 children who drowned in Syamozero. An entire “Museum of Angels” was dedicated to them in Kudam. On its walls are portraits of children, under the icon of the Mother of God are 14 figurines of angels, each with their own name. The villagers had the idea to open such a museum for a long time. But the tragedy pushed people to implement it faster. The owner of the very base where the children were warmed up, Nikolai Stolyarov, renovated the building of the former club, and people chipped in money for angel figures.
This destroyed building was there, there was nothing here, and this tragedy just happened. Since children are the same angels, it just so happened that the kids ended up here, says Nikolai Stolyarov.
We can say that we collected the exhibition of this unusual museum from the world, piece by piece. Some made free nameplates, some printed photographs, some donated frames for them. Elena Yakunenkova and her daughter were in charge of all the preparations. He says that in the future people want to set up a stand with children’s personal belongings, but this will be done with the help of the children’s parents. She communicates with many on social networks.
I think that parents will be pleased that we have such a museum where the memory of their children is preserved,” says Elena.
But it’s not just the “Museum of Angels” that reminds residents of the 2016 tragedy. Immediately after the sad events, a worship cross was erected on the shore of the lake. Again at your own expense. It’s surprising that people don’t expect any other help. To the questions - is it necessary? They say they won’t refuse, but they won’t ask either. And this despite the fact that representatives of the republican authorities themselves stated several times that on the anniversary of the tragedy a memorial sign would be installed on the shore of the lake. The new head of the region, Artur Parfenchikov, personally promised that by June 18, 2017, there will be a memorial on Syamozero. True, a few days before the memorable date it is known that there will still be no sign. Apparently there was a need to discuss the future sign with the children’s relatives. It is unknown whether the parents themselves are ready for such a discussion.
Karelia Closed
The Syamozero Park Hotel or the Karelia Open camp today does not live up to its name. On the welcome sign are posted papers with orders to close the camp. On the gate is the security guard's phone number. According to the head of the local settlement, Andrei Orekhanov, no one is allowed into the territory, it is only known that all things are gradually removed from there.
Andrei Orekhanov speaks about the fate of the camp just as emotionally as he did a year ago: he has been pushing for the closure of this place for many years.
There have been many complaints about this camp. I have already told you that in 2015 I managed to close the camp by decision of an interdepartmental commission, but the court overturned this decision. After all, they seized the territory next to the camp and built houses and toilets there. We fought with the residents of Syargelakhty, but [camp director Elena] Reshetova called the police allegedly because of illegal entry into private territory. Now they have sorted it all out, but again they left the mess on the shore,” says Andrey Orekhanov.
Andrey Orekhanov There really is a mess. Former buildings seem to have been torn out from small foundations, and there is construction debris and dirt all around.
It’s hard to imagine that just a year ago life was in full swing here: children played “Robinson”, perhaps conquered the obstacle course put together next to the camp territory. And so abruptly this life ended. Just as the lives of fourteen children who went on a boat trip to Lake Syamozero a year ago were cut short.
What changed after the tragedy on Syamozero. Help "7x7"
Inspections and closure of children's camps
Immediately after the death of children on Syamozero, unscheduled inspections of children's camps began throughout the country. Several recreational places were closed at once, not only in, but also in others.
Before the start of the new summer season in Karelia, Acting Governor Arthur Parfenchikov announced a “rigorous inspection” of vacation spots. As a result of inspections, the leadership of Rospotrebnadzor rejected several camps that had successfully passed inspections and had been operating for many years. Thus, in the vicinity of Petrozavodsk, three out of four municipal camps were unable to accommodate children. The Karelian Rospotrebnadzor refused to comment on what was happening, demanding that a written request be sent to the department. The editors of "" will receive and publish answers to questions about how many camps are closed, why they did not pass inspection this year and when a repeat study will be conducted.
Personnel decisions and criminal cases against officials
Three days after the tragedy, the court of 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. their positions as director and deputy director of the Petrozavodsk Pedagogical College, sending students to practice at the Park-Hotel Syamozero camp.
The leadership of the republic did not make any other personnel decisions. and vacationing children demanded the resignation of the Karelian children's ombudsman Oksana Starshova, but she continues to work. Unlike her federal colleague Pavel Astakhov, who was forced to resign after a scandal related to his inappropriate behavior with injured children: while visiting the victims in the hospital, Astakhov asked one of the girls the question “Well, how was your swim?”
Information appeared in the media that deputies of the Legislative Assembly of Karelia intended to demand the resignation of Deputy Prime Minister Valentina Ulich, who then headed the interdepartmental commission for organizing summer holidays for children, but she continued to work as part of the government of Alexander Khudilainen and resigned only after the change of the head of the region.
In the spring of 2017, Irina Shcherbakova, a paramedic at the Suojärvi District Hospital, was sentenced to three years in a penal colony with a deferred sentence for negligence. She took the call from drowning children as a joke and did not notify the rescue service about it. The father of the boy who called, who was present at the court hearing, did not consider the health worker guilty, and proposed to judge those who are responsible for the operation of emergency telephones in Karelia.
Now an investigation is underway against the management of the Park Hotel Syamozero camp - director Elena Reshetova and her deputy Vadim Vinogradov. Both were placed in pre-trial detention. One of the camp counselors, Valery Krupoderschikov, who accompanied the group of dead children, is under a written undertaking not to leave the place. He is under the same articles of the Criminal Code as Reshetova and Vinogradov - 125 (“Leaving in danger”) and 238 (“Providing services that do not meet safety requirements”).
Changes in legislation and public procurement system in the field of children's recreation
Two months after the tragedy, in August 2016, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev signed a government order to exclude services for organizing children's recreation from the list of purchases through the electronic auction system. This means that now, when determining the company responsible for children's recreation, not only the price is taken into account (previously, the one who offered the lowest price at an auction won it and received a government contract), but also experience in organizing children's recreation, the qualifications of employees working with children, and real conditions for placing children.
The tragedy in Karelia showed the flaws in the electronic auction system: Syamozero LLC won government contracts not only because auctions were organized with the participation of shell companies close to the management of Syamozero, but also because it offered the lowest price. The price was reduced due to the use of free labor of student trainees, the organization of a camp “carousel” (when a group of children was taken on a hiking or boat trip, and the next batch of vacationers moved in in their place) and savings on infrastructure (not far from the camp where the children lived in brick houses, wooden temporary huts were built, which also housed groups of children).
The legislation has also changed: in the federal law “On Basic Guarantees of the Rights of the Child in the Russian Federation,” Article 12 (“Ensuring the rights of children to rest and recreation”) was changed. It contained words about “improving the quality and safety of recreation” for children and about control by the authorities. A new article of the law (Article 12.1) instructs the Federal Ministry of Education and Science to develop “model regulations” and “methodological recommendations” for organizing children’s recreation. However, before the start of the 2017 summer season, the approximate regulations were not approved, nor did unified methodological recommendations appear.
Gleb and Anna Yarovoy, photo by Gleb Yarovoy, ""