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My name is Dariya Fadeeva.
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I'm 16.
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I live in Beslan.
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And, uh, my sister was
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one of the hostages in School Number 1.
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I can't make sense of this.
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More than 330 people died at this school,
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and hundreds of kids were killed.
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Everyone had someone in this school,
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someone they knew.
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This just touched everyone.
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Everyone.
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The world had never seen
anything like this before.
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That's Russian 9-11th.
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That's what it was.
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The suffering...
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was just un-measurable.
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And I was thinking of those
people who could do this,
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00:03:16,558 --> 00:03:20,295
and I couldn't find the answer
why did they do it.
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00:03:20,330 --> 00:03:21,330
Why?
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00:03:24,666 --> 00:03:27,469
I still can't find an answer.
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00:04:51,989 --> 00:04:55,091
Beslan was really friendly place.
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Our town was, like,
really special from others.
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That isn't big,
so everyone knows each other,
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and that's, like,
really nice place to live in
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because there are so many
nationalities and religions.
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And they just...
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We're all been so friendly to each other.
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It was really happy place.
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The first day of school, September 1,
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is a celebration.
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It's called
"the Day of Knowledge."
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Across Russia, parents
come with their children,
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bringing balloons and gifts
for the teachers.
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It's like a big deal in Russia,
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and everyone is just
waiting for this moment,
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00:06:06,864 --> 00:06:08,833
like, when the school starts.
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That's also a big holiday for kids
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00:06:10,935 --> 00:06:13,372
who go to school first time in their life.
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00:06:15,106 --> 00:06:18,043
Dariya Fadeeva is a high school senior.
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00:06:18,711 --> 00:06:21,980
She spent her junior year in Euless, Texas,
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just outside Dallas,
as an exchange student.
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00:06:25,784 --> 00:06:26,785
When she went to Texas,
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00:06:27,520 --> 00:06:31,489
she left behind
her 12-year-old sister Alia.
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She was so energizing.
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She used to write poems,
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and she even made a little book.
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Like, she edited it herself.
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Like, she made a drawings for her poems.
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On September 1, 2004,
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a hot and sunny day,
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Dariya helped Alia get ready
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for her first day of sixth grade.
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She was so excited to see her friends
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and to see her classmates.
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All summer, we were just
preparing for this day.
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00:07:03,923 --> 00:07:06,325
Like, my mom was buying
new clothes for Alia,
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like, for that day.
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And she was getting her hair done.
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I was helping her with that.
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She was beautiful.
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I told her that I will see her after,
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and I remember her walking downstairs,
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00:07:25,812 --> 00:07:28,982
and she went to school alone by herself.
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00:07:32,752 --> 00:07:36,021
Alia was heading
to Beslan's School Number 1.
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00:07:38,492 --> 00:07:40,412
The school has been here
for more than 100 years.
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Classes include the first
through 11th grades,
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with nearly 900 students.
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00:07:59,778 --> 00:08:02,983
Hiding in the woods not far from Beslan,
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some 30 men and two women
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packed up an arsenal of weaponry
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00:08:07,988 --> 00:08:10,857
and also started heading
to Beslan School Number 1.
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We prepared songs about childhood,
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00:08:26,339 --> 00:08:27,339
about childhood ending
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00:08:28,341 --> 00:08:30,945
and a new stage of life beginning.
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00:08:30,978 --> 00:08:32,979
And at the start of this song,
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the children were supposed
to enter the school.
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00:08:41,956 --> 00:08:43,157
Elena Kosomova
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00:08:43,791 --> 00:08:45,860
is one of the school's
most beloved teachers
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00:08:45,893 --> 00:08:47,829
and the vice principal.
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00:08:47,863 --> 00:08:50,831
She was in charge of the opening
day ceremonies every year.
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Her own nine-year-old son, Timor,
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00:08:57,238 --> 00:08:59,473
was beginning the third grade.
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00:09:03,911 --> 00:09:06,280
We prepare for the Day
of Knowledge thoroughly
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because first graders are coming to school
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for the first time
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and they will remember this day forever.
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One of those first graders
was Alana Zandarova.
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00:09:17,225 --> 00:09:20,861
It was the first time she had
ever set foot inside a school.
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00:09:25,701 --> 00:09:28,637
Alana really wanted to go to school.
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00:09:28,670 --> 00:09:30,805
I wanted to hold her back till next year.
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She's too little, only six years old.
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00:09:32,841 --> 00:09:36,944
But she said, "No.
No, I'm going."
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00:09:39,513 --> 00:09:40,513
Alana's mother, Zalina,
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00:09:41,283 --> 00:09:43,285
brought her two-year-old son, Alan, along
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00:09:43,318 --> 00:09:46,687
to celebrate his big sister's
first day of school.
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00:10:03,905 --> 00:10:05,185
My wife and I were very anxious,
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00:10:06,508 --> 00:10:09,012
and my hands were shaking with joy
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00:10:09,045 --> 00:10:12,247
because my little girl is starting school.
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00:10:13,415 --> 00:10:16,953
Sergei Urmanov's daughter,
who is also named Zalina,
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00:10:16,986 --> 00:10:19,488
was excited as she headed to the ceremony.
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00:10:21,790 --> 00:10:24,182
My daughter was coming out of
the school with her best friend.
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00:10:24,192 --> 00:10:26,728
Their birthdays were just five days apart.
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00:10:26,762 --> 00:10:29,532
And they were carrying a poster that said
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00:10:29,565 --> 00:10:31,701
"First Time To First Grade,"
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00:10:31,734 --> 00:10:33,935
and they had balloons in their hands.
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00:10:33,969 --> 00:10:35,972
And I took their picture.
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00:10:40,610 --> 00:10:42,744
While children gathered with their parents,
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a large truck pulled up to this entrance
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of Beslan School Number 1.
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00:10:46,983 --> 00:10:50,218
It was about 9:20
in the morning.
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00:10:52,221 --> 00:10:53,781
In this home video, we see the children
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just before the ceremonies begin.
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00:11:07,870 --> 00:11:09,391
At that moment, I heard popping sounds
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from behind.
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Heavily armed men and women
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00:11:15,511 --> 00:11:16,913
with guns, grenades and bombs
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entered the school through this door,
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pushing parents, students
and teachers inside.
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00:11:23,686 --> 00:11:25,366
A security guard and an off-duty policeman
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00:11:25,788 --> 00:11:28,092
were killed immediately.
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00:11:28,125 --> 00:11:31,060
Another group of terrorists
ran into this courtyard
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where hundreds of children
and parents had gathered,
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00:11:33,930 --> 00:11:36,400
and all hell broke loose.
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00:11:45,110 --> 00:11:47,144
It was chaotic shooting.
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They were shooting in the air.
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When we were running towards the gym,
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they were shooting in the ground.
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I can't say that they
were shooting at people
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00:11:55,619 --> 00:11:57,054
because I didn't see it.
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00:11:57,621 --> 00:12:00,758
There was terrible,
terrible panic all around.
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00:12:00,791 --> 00:12:03,360
The shooting was intense.
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00:12:08,432 --> 00:12:11,401
Zalina Zandarova was
also herded into the gym
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00:12:11,435 --> 00:12:13,370
with her two children.
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00:12:15,839 --> 00:12:17,608
When it all started, Alana asked me...
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00:12:19,976 --> 00:12:21,937
"Mom, is this how it usually
is on September 1st?"
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00:12:26,885 --> 00:12:29,019
It was very scary.
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00:12:29,053 --> 00:12:30,053
I remember with fear
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00:12:31,589 --> 00:12:34,425
that after I saw the terrorists' faces
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00:12:34,459 --> 00:12:37,962
I thought, "No one
will leave here alive."
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00:12:50,475 --> 00:12:52,643
Almost all the students
from the upper grades
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00:12:52,676 --> 00:12:53,811
managed to run away
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00:12:55,747 --> 00:12:58,984
because for the ceremony they
line up by the school gate.
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00:13:04,022 --> 00:13:06,926
It was the younger students
who couldn't get away.
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00:13:12,096 --> 00:13:14,500
I went to see my mom at the hairdresser
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00:13:14,533 --> 00:13:16,868
where we were supposed to meet,
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00:13:16,901 --> 00:13:18,621
and I heard something like a popping sound,
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00:13:18,903 --> 00:13:20,638
but I didn't think anything of it.
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00:13:20,672 --> 00:13:23,876
And suddenly my mom ran out
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00:13:23,909 --> 00:13:26,144
and tells me that it was
a siege of School Number 1.
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00:13:56,342 --> 00:13:58,310
They pushed me inside the school,
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and they started chasing the children
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00:14:02,481 --> 00:14:06,017
towards the entrance.
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00:14:06,050 --> 00:14:07,491
I was trying to help children escape
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00:14:08,053 --> 00:14:10,055
by breaking windows
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00:14:10,089 --> 00:14:12,726
and pushing children outside.
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00:14:12,759 --> 00:14:15,462
I remember pushing my brother's wife
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00:14:15,495 --> 00:14:18,131
out through a window.
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00:14:18,164 --> 00:14:20,200
Then they forced us into the gym.
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00:14:20,233 --> 00:14:22,568
My wife was with me,
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00:14:22,668 --> 00:14:25,071
but we couldn't find our daughter.
162
00:14:34,247 --> 00:14:38,484
I found my son jammed
in a corridor next to the gym.
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00:14:38,651 --> 00:14:40,619
I managed to get hold of his hand,
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00:14:40,653 --> 00:14:41,922
pull him towards me,
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00:14:41,955 --> 00:14:45,091
and bring him into the gym.
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00:14:45,125 --> 00:14:47,994
He was crying, shouting,
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00:14:48,028 --> 00:14:52,199
asking what is happening,
were they going to kill us?
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00:14:53,601 --> 00:14:55,601
That's what all the children
around us were asking.
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00:15:00,374 --> 00:15:02,342
In the gym, we sat down.
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00:15:02,375 --> 00:15:03,375
They were rough with us,
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pushing us with the butts of their rifles.
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00:15:07,147 --> 00:15:09,517
They announced that we were all hostages.
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00:15:12,319 --> 00:15:14,321
I saw about 16 people,
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00:15:14,354 --> 00:15:17,925
including two women suicide bombers.
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00:15:17,959 --> 00:15:22,162
These were the people that
entered the gym and guarded us.
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00:15:24,966 --> 00:15:27,134
They kept talking about death,
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00:15:27,368 --> 00:15:30,271
saying that nobody will leave alive.
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00:15:30,304 --> 00:15:32,440
"We came here to die," they said,
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00:15:32,473 --> 00:15:34,474
"and you will die with us."
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00:15:41,649 --> 00:15:43,649
Word of the takeover
quickly spread through Beslan,
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a town of 34,000.
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00:15:51,825 --> 00:15:53,828
Local militia and armed citizens
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00:15:53,861 --> 00:15:56,764
immediately considered storming the school.
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00:15:56,797 --> 00:15:59,165
Almost everyone knew someone inside.
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00:16:02,170 --> 00:16:06,141
But terrorist snipers fired
on anyone who approached.
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00:16:20,288 --> 00:16:23,824
Dariya Fadeeva ran towards
the school with her mother.
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00:16:25,493 --> 00:16:28,030
At that moment, nobody
really knew what was going on
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00:16:28,063 --> 00:16:30,665
and what happened to their children,
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00:16:30,699 --> 00:16:33,059
the same way as we didn't know
what was happening with Alia.
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00:16:34,201 --> 00:16:37,939
And my mom was crying because
my sister was at school alone,
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00:16:37,973 --> 00:16:39,975
and she was crying,
why did she let her go alone.
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00:16:40,876 --> 00:16:42,544
And, like, a lot of times
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I was thinking that I should be with her.
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00:16:44,880 --> 00:16:46,849
That's what I was thinking.
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00:16:46,883 --> 00:16:48,843
And, like, if they would
let me go instead of her,
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00:16:48,917 --> 00:16:49,917
I would go.
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00:17:04,366 --> 00:17:06,435
Word of the terrorist takeover
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00:17:06,468 --> 00:17:10,539
also spread to Moscow
a thousand miles away.
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00:17:10,572 --> 00:17:12,139
My name is Dmitry Beliakov.
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I'm a freelance photojournalist.
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It was also a very important day for me.
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I've taken my own son into school.
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00:17:22,652 --> 00:17:24,787
And at the moment
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00:17:24,821 --> 00:17:28,623
when I was standing together with my wife
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00:17:28,657 --> 00:17:31,894
in a schoolyard of my school in Moscow,
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00:17:31,928 --> 00:17:33,963
I received a phone call.
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00:17:35,932 --> 00:17:37,332
My friend asked if I know the news.
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00:17:40,069 --> 00:17:42,271
He explained to me what happened,
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00:17:42,305 --> 00:17:44,539
and then I just immediately rushed home.
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00:17:45,607 --> 00:17:49,045
I rushed back home
and started packing things.
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00:17:56,052 --> 00:17:58,555
I get into this airport.
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00:17:58,589 --> 00:18:00,857
It was a plane full of journalists
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00:18:00,890 --> 00:18:03,259
from all around the world.
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00:18:03,292 --> 00:18:06,597
I think that no one can understand
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00:18:06,630 --> 00:18:08,664
how is it possible
to take children hostages.
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00:18:25,214 --> 00:18:28,017
There were more than
a thousand people in the gym.
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00:18:28,050 --> 00:18:31,255
The heat outside was reaching
a hundred degrees.
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00:18:31,288 --> 00:18:34,124
The heat inside the gym was horrible.
219
00:18:34,158 --> 00:18:35,638
We were practically lying and sitting
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00:18:35,659 --> 00:18:37,661
on top of each other.
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00:19:03,954 --> 00:19:07,425
They took all of us men out of the gym.
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00:19:07,458 --> 00:19:10,895
And as one man tried to reassure the crowd,
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00:19:10,929 --> 00:19:13,231
they shot him in the back of the head.
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00:19:14,431 --> 00:19:16,534
They took us into the hallway,
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00:19:16,568 --> 00:19:19,837
putting one of us in front of every window.
226
00:19:21,339 --> 00:19:23,579
Then we were told to barricade
the windows and the doors.
227
00:19:24,341 --> 00:19:28,012
They said if the barricades were broken,
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00:19:28,046 --> 00:19:29,526
the men who built them would be shot.
229
00:19:34,285 --> 00:19:37,222
The terrorists waited
until the job was done,
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00:19:37,255 --> 00:19:39,456
then shot a number of those men.
231
00:19:39,489 --> 00:19:43,229
Next, they wired more than
a dozen bombs in the gym
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00:19:43,262 --> 00:19:45,464
around and above the hostages.
233
00:19:49,534 --> 00:19:53,138
Sergei Urmanov, an electrical engineer,
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00:19:53,172 --> 00:19:54,372
watched the process carefully.
235
00:20:02,247 --> 00:20:06,184
In the basketball hoop,
there were three bombs taped up,
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00:20:06,217 --> 00:20:09,455
and one up on the backboard
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00:20:09,488 --> 00:20:12,757
with wires leading to two more.
238
00:20:17,228 --> 00:20:19,069
There were wires going
to a pedal on the floor.
239
00:20:20,733 --> 00:20:23,969
One of the terrorists
always had a foot on it.
240
00:20:24,003 --> 00:20:25,971
Detonation would occur
if he took his foot off.
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00:20:33,212 --> 00:20:34,212
Alana asked me,
242
00:20:35,213 --> 00:20:38,517
"What was hanging over there?
Are those bombs?"
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00:20:38,550 --> 00:20:41,920
I said they were just cans, not bombs.
244
00:20:41,954 --> 00:20:45,090
She asked me, "Why do they
say it's going to blow up
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00:20:45,124 --> 00:20:47,826
if somebody touches
the cans?"
246
00:20:47,860 --> 00:20:50,129
I told her that they were just scaring us.
247
00:20:54,533 --> 00:20:57,437
They warned us to be careful
with the wires.
248
00:20:57,470 --> 00:20:58,470
One bomb hung so low,
249
00:20:59,538 --> 00:21:02,642
we touched it every time
we went to the bathroom.
250
00:21:07,279 --> 00:21:10,349
Once the bombs were set
and the building secured,
251
00:21:10,382 --> 00:21:13,053
the terrorists sent out a note,
252
00:21:13,086 --> 00:21:16,288
naming four government officials
they would negotiate with.
253
00:21:16,322 --> 00:21:18,691
They also sent this threat:
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00:21:18,724 --> 00:21:22,195
"Wound one of us, we shoot 20 hostages.
255
00:21:22,228 --> 00:21:23,348
Kill one of us,
we shoot 50."
256
00:21:31,637 --> 00:21:34,140
There was a huge crowd of people
257
00:21:34,174 --> 00:21:36,142
standing across the street,
258
00:21:36,176 --> 00:21:38,417
and they all wanted just
to go through and just whatever.
259
00:21:38,779 --> 00:21:40,246
Didn't matter for them,
260
00:21:40,280 --> 00:21:41,805
like, if they're going to die or whatever.
261
00:21:41,815 --> 00:21:43,550
They just wanted to go into the school
262
00:21:43,583 --> 00:21:44,884
and be with their kids.
263
00:21:44,918 --> 00:21:47,455
And we couldn't go any further
264
00:21:47,488 --> 00:21:49,689
because we were stopped by the army tank
265
00:21:49,723 --> 00:21:52,292
that was standing on this corner.
266
00:22:03,536 --> 00:22:05,438
Within hours of the attack,
267
00:22:05,472 --> 00:22:08,108
units of the Russian army
started to arrive.
268
00:22:08,141 --> 00:22:10,510
They were frustrated that
civilians and local militia
269
00:22:10,543 --> 00:22:11,543
seemed out of control.
270
00:22:22,990 --> 00:22:25,793
Parents, family members,
and the entire town
271
00:22:25,826 --> 00:22:27,027
were desperate for news.
272
00:22:27,828 --> 00:22:30,630
We just had to wait, and we
couldn't do anything else,
273
00:22:30,663 --> 00:22:32,733
and that was just killing us.
274
00:22:32,767 --> 00:22:34,535
Like...
275
00:22:34,568 --> 00:22:35,928
I thought it was like a nightmare.
276
00:22:36,536 --> 00:22:38,304
Information was scarce,
277
00:22:38,338 --> 00:22:40,975
and at times stunningly inaccurate.
278
00:22:53,020 --> 00:22:56,223
Everyone in the crowd knew
officials were lying.
279
00:22:56,257 --> 00:22:57,859
It seems the Russian government
280
00:22:57,893 --> 00:22:59,394
was trying to minimize the crisis.
281
00:23:00,429 --> 00:23:03,864
I was absolutely sure there
was more than a thousand.
282
00:23:03,898 --> 00:23:07,202
Even counting relatives
of people who've been waiting,
283
00:23:07,235 --> 00:23:08,475
that couldn't be possible, 354.
284
00:23:10,337 --> 00:23:14,708
In fact, there were nearly
1,200 hostages in the school.
285
00:23:14,742 --> 00:23:16,623
If there was doubt
about the number of hostages,
286
00:23:17,478 --> 00:23:20,648
there was no doubt
about the hostage takers.
287
00:23:20,681 --> 00:23:23,884
Everyone knew they were Chechens.
288
00:23:23,918 --> 00:23:26,455
They were telling us that they were fed up
289
00:23:26,488 --> 00:23:28,824
with the war in Chechnya.
290
00:23:32,394 --> 00:23:34,396
One of the terrorists said
291
00:23:34,429 --> 00:23:36,264
that a Russian plane
flown from our airfield
292
00:23:36,298 --> 00:23:38,633
had killed his entire family.
293
00:23:40,569 --> 00:23:42,537
Now he wanted to kill
294
00:23:42,571 --> 00:23:45,941
and didn't care that it
was women and children.
295
00:23:48,977 --> 00:23:51,413
Chechnya is a neighboring republic
296
00:23:51,446 --> 00:23:53,748
about the size of Connecticut that has been
297
00:23:53,782 --> 00:23:56,952
in a war for independence
from Russia for years.
298
00:23:58,285 --> 00:24:00,422
The Russians have fought a bitter war,
299
00:24:00,455 --> 00:24:02,258
taking heavy casualties,
300
00:24:02,291 --> 00:24:04,331
to maintain control over
the mostly Muslim republic.
301
00:24:06,595 --> 00:24:08,564
Tens of thousands of Chechens,
302
00:24:08,598 --> 00:24:11,868
including thousands of children,
have been killed.
303
00:24:19,742 --> 00:24:21,422
The Chechens have taken the war to Moscow,
304
00:24:22,410 --> 00:24:24,779
killing hundreds in terrorist attacks,
305
00:24:24,813 --> 00:24:28,351
including the infamous 2002 theater siege.
306
00:24:30,819 --> 00:24:33,221
There, hostages secretly used cell phones
307
00:24:33,255 --> 00:24:35,491
to communicate with police.
308
00:24:35,525 --> 00:24:36,805
To end the siege, Russian forces
309
00:24:37,527 --> 00:24:39,962
pumped sleeping gas into the theater.
310
00:24:46,936 --> 00:24:48,971
More than 30 terrorists died,
311
00:24:49,005 --> 00:24:52,241
but so did 130 hostages.
312
00:25:01,785 --> 00:25:03,753
It was clear
313
00:25:03,786 --> 00:25:06,989
no one was going to
walk out of the school alive.
314
00:25:09,125 --> 00:25:12,395
The Beslan attackers had learned
from the theater siege,
315
00:25:12,428 --> 00:25:14,664
breaking windo to ventilate the school
316
00:25:14,697 --> 00:25:16,667
and keeping tighter control
of their hostages.
317
00:25:20,203 --> 00:25:22,706
When we were first ordered
to hand over our cell phones,
318
00:25:22,739 --> 00:25:24,541
we didn't throw them all away.
319
00:25:26,610 --> 00:25:30,047
They knew not all the phones
had been turned in, and said...
320
00:25:31,548 --> 00:25:33,817
"If we find a phone on anyone,
321
00:25:33,850 --> 00:25:37,454
we will shoot them...
and shoot 20 others, too."
322
00:25:40,891 --> 00:25:43,659
And then more phones were surrendered.
323
00:25:51,401 --> 00:25:53,503
By the end of the first day,
324
00:25:53,537 --> 00:25:56,774
photographer Dmitry Beliakov
had arrived in Beslan.
325
00:26:01,545 --> 00:26:06,451
I started chasing the special forces unit
326
00:26:06,484 --> 00:26:09,586
which I was supposed to be imbedded with.
327
00:26:09,620 --> 00:26:11,622
He found the Spetznaz,
328
00:26:11,655 --> 00:26:13,296
special forces troops he was looking for.
329
00:26:14,125 --> 00:26:18,695
Beliakov knew these men from
covering the war in Chechnya.
330
00:26:18,729 --> 00:26:20,731
As I was waiting for them,
331
00:26:20,764 --> 00:26:22,045
I was, you know, running through
332
00:26:24,401 --> 00:26:26,403
my pictures of my wife and my son
333
00:26:26,436 --> 00:26:29,072
on this little display of a digital camera...
334
00:26:31,477 --> 00:26:35,279
because just behind the wall
there's a siege.
335
00:26:35,313 --> 00:26:38,016
And I just was thinking,
336
00:26:38,049 --> 00:26:42,120
"What would I do
in such a situation?"
337
00:26:42,153 --> 00:26:44,155
I don't know.
338
00:27:04,409 --> 00:27:07,446
There was a storm.
There was raining.
339
00:27:07,479 --> 00:27:09,548
And I don't think there was a gunfire.
340
00:27:09,581 --> 00:27:11,650
I don't remember any gunfire
the first night
341
00:27:11,684 --> 00:27:13,918
because of the rain that was so noisy.
342
00:27:13,951 --> 00:27:16,221
Maybe there was.
You couldn't hear it, though.
343
00:27:29,867 --> 00:27:31,837
When the children fell asleep,
344
00:27:31,870 --> 00:27:33,706
there would be some gunshots occasionally,
345
00:27:33,872 --> 00:27:36,008
which made them shudder.
346
00:27:36,041 --> 00:27:39,577
They asked me if someone had been killed.
347
00:27:39,610 --> 00:27:41,613
I said, "No."
348
00:27:44,651 --> 00:27:47,352
"Then why do they shoot?"
349
00:27:47,386 --> 00:27:50,023
I said, "Sleep,
and don't be afraid."
350
00:27:53,226 --> 00:27:55,227
We thought that that's just not normal
351
00:27:55,260 --> 00:27:57,563
to do these kind of things to kids.
352
00:27:57,596 --> 00:27:59,397
So, we still hoped that
they will just realize
353
00:28:00,266 --> 00:28:03,001
what they're doing and let the kids out.
354
00:28:03,035 --> 00:28:05,771
During that first night
on the streets of Beslan,
355
00:28:05,804 --> 00:28:06,804
there was still hope.
356
00:28:07,841 --> 00:28:10,776
But inside School Number 1,
357
00:28:10,809 --> 00:28:13,378
the hostages believed
the terrorists planned
358
00:28:13,412 --> 00:28:15,481
to kill them all.
359
00:28:18,183 --> 00:28:20,987
I was thinking about one thing:
360
00:28:21,020 --> 00:28:22,355
Let the end come soon.
361
00:28:51,283 --> 00:28:54,020
When my children fell asleep,
I would think,
362
00:28:54,053 --> 00:28:55,653
"Let it happen to them
before they wake."
363
00:29:25,552 --> 00:29:26,719
It was September 2nd
364
00:29:27,555 --> 00:29:31,624
when I found these guys
365
00:29:31,658 --> 00:29:34,862
from Spetznaz I wanted to be with.
366
00:29:35,095 --> 00:29:38,300
They had been located
367
00:29:38,333 --> 00:29:40,201
in Radio Technical College,
368
00:29:40,234 --> 00:29:42,570
which was on the opposite side from school,
369
00:29:42,603 --> 00:29:43,603
just across the railway.
370
00:29:47,374 --> 00:29:51,412
One is a Captain, the other a sniper...
371
00:29:51,445 --> 00:29:55,549
two soldiers from Russia's
special forces, Spetznaz.
372
00:29:55,583 --> 00:29:58,986
Their identities must be kept hidden.
373
00:30:00,855 --> 00:30:02,858
The terrorists were shooting sporadically.
374
00:30:13,235 --> 00:30:15,103
Sometimes targeted fire,
375
00:30:15,237 --> 00:30:17,205
sometimes just to let us know
376
00:30:17,239 --> 00:30:20,175
that they are not asleep and are vigilant.
377
00:30:26,548 --> 00:30:29,217
I knew there were at least 20 terrorists,
378
00:30:30,685 --> 00:30:32,125
snipers, and some with machine guns,
379
00:30:33,355 --> 00:30:36,957
and that there were many, many hostages.
380
00:30:40,862 --> 00:30:42,998
Inside the school, the terrorists
381
00:30:43,031 --> 00:30:45,232
also fired bullets into the ceiling...
382
00:30:48,571 --> 00:30:51,574
...each shot reverberating
through the crowd outside.
383
00:30:55,210 --> 00:30:57,680
Mothers started crying way more.
384
00:30:57,713 --> 00:31:01,616
Some people just got
heart attack right here
385
00:31:01,650 --> 00:31:03,752
from worry.
386
00:31:18,934 --> 00:31:20,174
Lydia Tsaliyeva was celebrating
387
00:31:21,569 --> 00:31:24,674
her 24th year as the school's principal.
388
00:31:24,707 --> 00:31:28,477
From the beginning, she tried
to reason with the terrorists.
389
00:31:28,511 --> 00:31:31,315
They said, "Our demands have to be met,
390
00:31:31,348 --> 00:31:33,716
and then we'll leave
and not kill anyone."
391
00:31:33,749 --> 00:31:36,085
I said,
"What are your demands?"
392
00:31:36,218 --> 00:31:40,957
They said, "They have to take
the troops out of Chechnya."
393
00:31:42,425 --> 00:31:44,226
So who were these terrorists?
394
00:31:45,594 --> 00:31:47,697
A dramatic videotape surfaced
395
00:31:47,730 --> 00:31:49,632
exposing an unseen side of the story.
396
00:31:51,767 --> 00:31:53,927
It's a tape that begins
on the morning of September 1st
397
00:31:54,737 --> 00:31:57,740
in the home of Aksana Dzaporova.
398
00:31:57,773 --> 00:32:01,611
This is her seven-year-old daughter Lynda.
399
00:32:04,581 --> 00:32:06,850
Lynda was going to the first grade,
400
00:32:06,883 --> 00:32:08,403
and my husband wanted to videotape her
401
00:32:08,986 --> 00:32:10,620
going to school for the first time,
402
00:32:10,654 --> 00:32:13,589
and videotape her friends, too.
403
00:32:25,202 --> 00:32:27,671
But when the terrorists
took control of the school,
404
00:32:27,704 --> 00:32:30,673
they demanded hostages surrender
not just cell phones
405
00:32:30,706 --> 00:32:33,377
but also their cameras.
406
00:32:35,545 --> 00:32:38,381
They told us to throw away
all the cell phones and cameras.
407
00:32:38,414 --> 00:32:40,384
My husband Aslan took the camera
408
00:32:40,417 --> 00:32:41,417
and threw it in the pile.
409
00:32:49,760 --> 00:32:53,531
Aslan's camera became
the terrorists' camera.
410
00:32:59,136 --> 00:33:00,571
After the siege ended,
411
00:33:00,605 --> 00:33:03,040
the lost tape was discovered in the rubble
412
00:33:03,073 --> 00:33:05,275
not by Russian investigators
413
00:33:05,308 --> 00:33:08,045
but by local teenagers.
414
00:33:08,078 --> 00:33:11,415
What is revealed is
a look inside the school
415
00:33:11,448 --> 00:33:12,849
through the terrorists' eyes.
416
00:33:16,054 --> 00:33:19,957
This is Ruslan Khuchbarov.
417
00:33:19,991 --> 00:33:21,631
Survivors say he was called "The Colonel"
418
00:33:22,460 --> 00:33:25,363
and seemed to be in charge.
419
00:33:30,068 --> 00:33:32,904
He was of medium height, stocky.
420
00:33:34,238 --> 00:33:37,642
He had a sniper rifle of the Spetznaz type.
421
00:33:40,478 --> 00:33:43,213
A calm, self-assured man.
422
00:33:45,249 --> 00:33:47,218
The man you see here is on his way
423
00:33:47,251 --> 00:33:50,188
to negotiate with The Colonel.
424
00:33:50,221 --> 00:33:52,323
His name is Aushev,
425
00:33:52,356 --> 00:33:53,597
Ruslan Aushev, a former general
426
00:33:55,194 --> 00:33:58,397
and once president of
the neighboring Russian republic
427
00:33:58,430 --> 00:34:00,231
of Ingushetia.
428
00:34:00,264 --> 00:34:02,505
He traveled from Moscow to
negotiate with the terrorists.
429
00:34:06,672 --> 00:34:08,806
I was met by two masked terrorists
430
00:34:08,840 --> 00:34:11,243
who took me inside the school.
431
00:34:13,345 --> 00:34:15,680
I saw this gym where
the people were stuffed
432
00:34:15,713 --> 00:34:17,582
like herring in a barrel.
433
00:34:19,685 --> 00:34:24,122
It was a picture of people
who knew they are about to die.
434
00:34:24,155 --> 00:34:25,756
When he entered the gym,
435
00:34:26,557 --> 00:34:28,360
there were whispers everywhere.
436
00:34:28,393 --> 00:34:30,196
Aushev! Aushev!
437
00:34:30,230 --> 00:34:33,098
He shook his head and left the gym.
438
00:34:34,766 --> 00:34:36,769
It was very stuffy.
439
00:34:36,803 --> 00:34:39,239
Almost all the children had stripped down.
440
00:34:39,272 --> 00:34:41,206
There was a stuffy, sweaty smell.
441
00:34:41,240 --> 00:34:43,609
No crying, but everyone understood
442
00:34:43,642 --> 00:34:46,179
that it was all very serious.
443
00:34:46,212 --> 00:34:49,748
There was horror in their eyes.
I could see that.
444
00:34:55,821 --> 00:34:58,090
He came in, looked at us.
445
00:34:58,891 --> 00:35:01,827
He said, "I got it,"
and then he walked out.
446
00:35:03,195 --> 00:35:05,164
Aushev and The Colonel talked
447
00:35:05,197 --> 00:35:06,597
in a second floor teachers' lounge.
448
00:35:07,167 --> 00:35:09,602
Lydia Tsaliyeva, the school's principal,
449
00:35:09,636 --> 00:35:10,803
was summoned.
450
00:35:12,839 --> 00:35:15,141
We've been waiting for so long.
451
00:35:15,175 --> 00:35:17,177
We're very glad that you
were the first to respond.
452
00:35:17,210 --> 00:35:20,045
I know I shouldn't cry.
453
00:35:20,078 --> 00:35:22,248
Aushev calms her, and then
Lydia speaks to The Colonel.
454
00:35:25,952 --> 00:35:28,320
I have one request for you.
455
00:35:28,353 --> 00:35:30,423
For Lord's sake, for Christ's sake,
456
00:35:31,624 --> 00:35:34,928
don't hurt a single child of mine.
457
00:35:37,329 --> 00:35:38,610
The terrorist leader told Aushev
458
00:35:39,666 --> 00:35:43,571
he was willing to negotiate
for release of the hostages.
459
00:35:43,604 --> 00:35:45,838
He pulled out a piece of graph paper
460
00:35:45,872 --> 00:35:47,841
and showed me their demands.
461
00:35:47,875 --> 00:35:49,843
There were seven or eight.
462
00:35:49,877 --> 00:35:52,012
The main one was to stop
the war in Chechnya.
463
00:35:52,046 --> 00:35:53,813
It was a letter to President Putin
464
00:35:53,846 --> 00:35:54,846
from Shamil Basayev.
465
00:35:59,653 --> 00:36:02,822
Shamil Basayev,
the most wanted man in Russia.
466
00:36:03,323 --> 00:36:06,894
He is the acknowledged leader
of Chechen terrorists,
467
00:36:06,927 --> 00:36:09,262
the man behind the Moscow theater siege
468
00:36:09,295 --> 00:36:10,530
and so many acts of terror.
469
00:36:11,598 --> 00:36:13,066
The Russian government
470
00:36:13,099 --> 00:36:16,203
has put a $10 million bounty on his head.
471
00:36:16,237 --> 00:36:18,905
This video shows Basayev planning
472
00:36:18,938 --> 00:36:20,374
with the Beslan terrorists
473
00:36:20,407 --> 00:36:23,245
weeks before the attack on the school.
474
00:36:26,013 --> 00:36:27,653
I've heard that on these Chechen Web site
475
00:36:29,450 --> 00:36:32,420
Basayev said that he personally did it.
476
00:36:32,454 --> 00:36:35,022
Well, what kind of scum is he, you know?
477
00:36:40,595 --> 00:36:42,563
By attacking a school
478
00:36:42,596 --> 00:36:44,236
and holding hundreds of children hostage,
479
00:36:44,565 --> 00:36:46,667
Basayev hoped to shock the Kremlin
480
00:36:46,700 --> 00:36:49,335
into ending the war in Chechnya.
481
00:37:04,686 --> 00:37:06,587
On the found tape,
482
00:37:06,620 --> 00:37:08,141
Aushev is given a tour by The Colonel.
483
00:37:18,233 --> 00:37:20,302
They showed me 21 dead bodies
484
00:37:20,335 --> 00:37:22,836
that were thrown out
the second floor window.
485
00:37:22,870 --> 00:37:24,672
These people were killed
486
00:37:24,705 --> 00:37:27,475
during the initial takeover of the school.
487
00:37:41,122 --> 00:37:43,459
I think they wanted to
demonstrate their decisiveness.
488
00:37:43,492 --> 00:37:46,095
In short, they were very serious.
489
00:37:46,127 --> 00:37:47,447
They said,
"Here are the demands."
490
00:37:48,296 --> 00:37:49,564
And I asked them,
491
00:37:49,597 --> 00:37:50,789
"Do you have any
other requests?"
492
00:37:50,799 --> 00:37:53,803
They said, "No.
493
00:37:53,836 --> 00:37:56,404
"Here is this piece of paper.
Go do it.
494
00:37:56,438 --> 00:38:00,175
When you do it,
we'll release the hostages."
495
00:38:04,713 --> 00:38:06,514
But before he left,
496
00:38:06,548 --> 00:38:08,483
Aushev was able to convince The Colonel
497
00:38:08,516 --> 00:38:10,786
to release some hostages.
498
00:38:16,225 --> 00:38:18,228
I said to the commander,
499
00:38:18,261 --> 00:38:19,762
"I understand you have these demands,
500
00:38:20,429 --> 00:38:22,631
"but it's not going to happen
today or tomorrow.
501
00:38:22,665 --> 00:38:26,302
At least
let the babies go."
502
00:38:26,335 --> 00:38:30,139
He just promised me they
will release the nursing babies.
503
00:38:30,172 --> 00:38:32,808
The nursing ones.
Thank you very much.
504
00:38:36,245 --> 00:38:38,247
Zalina Zandarova, in the gym
505
00:38:38,280 --> 00:38:40,349
with her six-year-old Alana
506
00:38:40,383 --> 00:38:42,518
and two-year-old Alan,
507
00:38:42,551 --> 00:38:44,352
struggled to calm them.
508
00:38:44,720 --> 00:38:47,523
Alan was constantly saying,
"I want to go home.
509
00:38:47,556 --> 00:38:50,127
I'm hungry.
I'm thirsty."
510
00:38:50,160 --> 00:38:52,128
He cried nonstop.
511
00:38:52,695 --> 00:38:55,632
At first, when they allowed us
to take the children out,
512
00:38:55,665 --> 00:38:57,634
we were overjoyed,
513
00:38:57,667 --> 00:38:59,568
and Alana was, too.
514
00:39:02,272 --> 00:39:04,341
But at the entrance to the gym...
515
00:39:06,410 --> 00:39:08,444
...another terrorist
took Alana away from me
516
00:39:08,544 --> 00:39:11,481
and told me to leave.
517
00:39:11,515 --> 00:39:14,251
I said, "I won't leave.
518
00:39:14,284 --> 00:39:16,452
I have a child here."
519
00:39:17,753 --> 00:39:20,724
Zalina was forced to choose...
520
00:39:20,757 --> 00:39:24,393
take little Alan out to safety
and leave Alana behind,
521
00:39:27,697 --> 00:39:31,235
She left with Alan.
522
00:39:31,269 --> 00:39:33,403
Alana said,
523
00:39:33,437 --> 00:39:36,239
"Ma, where are you going?"
524
00:39:36,273 --> 00:39:38,709
When they grabbed her out of my arms,
525
00:39:38,743 --> 00:39:40,710
she got scared and cried.
526
00:39:47,618 --> 00:39:49,538
One by one, this procession
of distraught mothers
527
00:39:50,654 --> 00:39:52,656
left the building.
528
00:39:52,689 --> 00:39:55,626
This is Zalina with Alan.
529
00:39:59,262 --> 00:40:02,166
To leave a child behind,
530
00:40:02,200 --> 00:40:04,669
it's beyond words.
531
00:40:04,702 --> 00:40:07,805
One has to live through this.
532
00:40:20,617 --> 00:40:22,858
Most of these mothers were
leaving an older child behind.
533
00:40:24,322 --> 00:40:27,425
One of those children
can be heard down the hall.
534
00:40:30,026 --> 00:40:34,632
"I want to go with Mama," she cries out.
535
00:40:34,665 --> 00:40:38,168
Eleven women carried out 14 babies.
536
00:40:38,201 --> 00:40:43,008
At the last moment, a terrorist
handed another baby to Aushev.
537
00:40:43,041 --> 00:40:45,243
The boy's mother couldn't leave
her older child behind.
538
00:40:47,945 --> 00:40:50,883
The last baby, I carried him myself.
539
00:40:50,916 --> 00:40:53,251
I took the baby and walked out.
540
00:40:55,853 --> 00:40:58,824
Aushev never returned to the school.
541
00:41:03,394 --> 00:41:05,363
He was the only government official
542
00:41:05,396 --> 00:41:08,500
to meet face-to-face with the terrorists.
543
00:41:26,385 --> 00:41:29,021
I had great hope that we
could continue negotiating
544
00:41:29,054 --> 00:41:30,856
with the terrorists,
545
00:41:30,889 --> 00:41:33,092
getting one or two people
out of there at a time,
546
00:41:33,126 --> 00:41:34,246
and to defuse the situation.
547
00:41:46,138 --> 00:41:48,874
Everything changed after Aushev left.
548
00:41:55,048 --> 00:41:57,150
They stopped giving us water.
549
00:41:57,183 --> 00:41:58,823
They stopped us from using the bathrooms.
550
00:41:59,452 --> 00:42:01,788
They turned aggressive.
551
00:42:05,692 --> 00:42:07,292
They may also have turned on each other.
552
00:42:08,595 --> 00:42:12,365
Among the hostage takers
were at least two women.
553
00:42:15,033 --> 00:42:17,604
They were impossible not to recognize.
554
00:42:17,637 --> 00:42:20,340
They had long black coats on.
555
00:42:20,373 --> 00:42:22,208
Only their eyes were showing.
556
00:42:22,541 --> 00:42:26,279
They had suicide bomber belts and pistols.
557
00:42:26,312 --> 00:42:28,581
They are called the Black Widows,
558
00:42:28,615 --> 00:42:30,383
Shahidki, women who have lost family
559
00:42:31,451 --> 00:42:33,486
in the Chechen War.
560
00:42:33,519 --> 00:42:36,557
Witnesses have said
the young women terrorists
561
00:42:36,590 --> 00:42:38,430
hadn't been told that
the school was the target
562
00:42:39,025 --> 00:42:42,795
and were upset about
taking children as hostages.
563
00:42:44,932 --> 00:42:46,866
They began arguing between themselves.
564
00:42:46,899 --> 00:42:49,836
We heard some shots.
565
00:42:49,869 --> 00:42:52,439
The timing is not exactly clear,
566
00:42:52,473 --> 00:42:54,608
but at some point during the siege,
567
00:42:56,409 --> 00:42:59,412
of the women terrorists exploded.
568
00:43:02,082 --> 00:43:03,122
It's incredible, you know.
569
00:43:03,983 --> 00:43:06,553
She just blew up
like a balloon full of blood.
570
00:43:08,622 --> 00:43:10,703
The explosion was to my left.
It was a big explosion.
571
00:43:12,526 --> 00:43:15,229
After the dust settled,
one of the terrorists
572
00:43:15,262 --> 00:43:17,398
came over to me and said,
573
00:43:17,431 --> 00:43:19,533
"Pick up the head."
574
00:43:19,566 --> 00:43:21,535
I then noticed right beside me
575
00:43:21,568 --> 00:43:24,304
was the head of one of the Shahidki.
576
00:43:24,338 --> 00:43:26,907
He told me to put it by her body.
577
00:43:28,909 --> 00:43:31,178
No one knows if the women committed suicide
578
00:43:31,211 --> 00:43:34,214
or were killed by other terrorists.
579
00:43:36,583 --> 00:43:39,787
After two days in the cramped
and airless gym,
580
00:43:39,820 --> 00:43:41,822
desperation set in.
581
00:43:44,692 --> 00:43:48,630
The children ate the flowers
that they had brought to school.
582
00:43:53,667 --> 00:43:56,071
Always sharing with each other.
583
00:43:59,207 --> 00:44:01,675
I took some soil from a flower pot,
584
00:44:01,709 --> 00:44:05,180
squeezing water from it through my shirt.
585
00:44:05,213 --> 00:44:07,282
One of them said to me,
586
00:44:07,449 --> 00:44:10,317
"If you move again, I'll shoot you,
587
00:44:10,350 --> 00:44:12,854
for you are interrupting
my prayer."
588
00:44:19,860 --> 00:44:22,631
When they quit letting us
go to the bathroom,
589
00:44:22,665 --> 00:44:26,501
they threw some empty plastic
bottles for the boys to pee in,
590
00:44:26,534 --> 00:44:29,805
and the girls went in spread-out clothes.
591
00:44:33,174 --> 00:44:34,743
When the children and adults
592
00:44:34,776 --> 00:44:36,511
couldn't stand it any longer without water,
593
00:44:36,544 --> 00:44:39,448
some started drinking urine.
594
00:44:39,482 --> 00:44:41,082
I felt nauseous and was almost fainting.
595
00:44:42,450 --> 00:44:45,253
When I thought I was ready
to drink it, too,
596
00:44:45,286 --> 00:44:47,456
I told my son,
"I could drink yours."
597
00:44:48,790 --> 00:44:52,160
He did not believe me.
598
00:44:52,193 --> 00:44:54,629
"Are you really
gonna drink it, Mom?"
599
00:44:56,232 --> 00:44:57,900
I said, "I will."
600
00:44:57,933 --> 00:45:01,036
I began drinking from a bottle he had used,
601
00:45:01,070 --> 00:45:03,539
covering my nose with my hand.
602
00:45:03,572 --> 00:45:04,972
He was looking at me and then said,
603
00:45:05,608 --> 00:45:08,878
"Mom, leave
the last sip for me."
604
00:45:30,265 --> 00:45:33,335
I couldn't eat, and my mom couldn't.
605
00:45:33,369 --> 00:45:35,939
While this was happening,
no one couldn't possibly eat
606
00:45:37,073 --> 00:45:40,544
because they knew that their
kids don't have anything to eat,
607
00:45:40,577 --> 00:45:42,579
anything.
608
00:45:50,554 --> 00:45:51,988
I was with my wife, my daughter,
609
00:45:53,722 --> 00:45:56,425
my sister, and my nieces.
610
00:45:56,458 --> 00:45:59,396
The youngest niece was diabetic.
611
00:45:59,429 --> 00:46:00,831
On the second day,
612
00:46:00,864 --> 00:46:04,300
she was close to a coma and couldn't talk.
613
00:46:04,333 --> 00:46:06,268
She died the second night.
614
00:46:25,590 --> 00:46:28,925
Morning. Everyone was
crying, hysterical.
615
00:46:28,959 --> 00:46:31,161
On the morning of September 3rd,
616
00:46:31,194 --> 00:46:35,098
the terrorists put me down
on my knees in the gym
617
00:46:35,131 --> 00:46:38,635
and said that if I didn't
calm down the crowd,
618
00:46:38,668 --> 00:46:40,470
they would shoot me.
619
00:46:40,503 --> 00:46:41,543
I tried calming them down.
620
00:46:42,505 --> 00:46:46,509
I said, "Listen to me,
or they are going to shoot us."
621
00:46:53,017 --> 00:46:55,853
I remember morning of September 3rd.
622
00:46:55,887 --> 00:46:57,207
It was like something in the air,
623
00:46:57,922 --> 00:47:00,124
and we felt that something has to happen.
624
00:47:03,394 --> 00:47:05,429
The morning of September 3rd
625
00:47:05,463 --> 00:47:08,665
brought more agony for the hostages inside
626
00:47:08,698 --> 00:47:12,003
and quiet suffering for those outside.
627
00:47:18,009 --> 00:47:20,378
We couldn't do absolutely anything,
628
00:47:20,411 --> 00:47:21,411
just feel helpless.
629
00:47:22,246 --> 00:47:23,747
And you start thinking
630
00:47:23,780 --> 00:47:25,583
how helpless people inside
of the school are.
631
00:47:27,319 --> 00:47:28,921
Nearly 50 hours had now passed.
632
00:47:31,522 --> 00:47:33,491
That was such a horrible waiting,
633
00:47:33,524 --> 00:47:37,062
when you didn't know what's going on.
634
00:47:40,298 --> 00:47:44,302
I was only thinking that if
the children won't be freed,
635
00:47:44,335 --> 00:47:45,936
then mothers themself will go to school,
636
00:47:47,204 --> 00:47:49,340
no matter what happens to them,
637
00:47:49,373 --> 00:47:52,310
because mothers were thinking
638
00:47:52,343 --> 00:47:53,478
their children are starving
639
00:47:55,846 --> 00:47:57,815
and don't have any water.
640
00:48:08,560 --> 00:48:11,596
Expectation and helplessness are the worst.
641
00:48:11,630 --> 00:48:13,465
It kills you.
642
00:48:13,498 --> 00:48:15,033
I just didn't believe
643
00:48:15,067 --> 00:48:17,169
that I will see my girl alive and unharmed.
644
00:48:21,473 --> 00:48:24,209
It would be easier for me
to be inside the school
645
00:48:24,242 --> 00:48:25,811
and see where they were shooting
646
00:48:26,244 --> 00:48:28,981
than to listen to the gunfire
from the outside,
647
00:48:29,014 --> 00:48:31,984
trying to guess where they were aiming.
648
00:48:32,017 --> 00:48:34,217
It seemed every shot we heard
was aimed at the children,
649
00:48:35,654 --> 00:48:38,458
at Alana.
650
00:48:44,296 --> 00:48:46,866
I wish they did shoot me.
651
00:48:50,169 --> 00:48:54,139
My little girl, Zalina,
is smart beyond her years.
652
00:48:54,172 --> 00:48:57,243
I said to her,
"Soon the soldiers will come,
653
00:48:57,276 --> 00:48:58,276
and we'll be okay."
654
00:48:59,379 --> 00:49:02,080
My wife saw me about to pass out.
655
00:49:02,114 --> 00:49:05,718
My wife is from God.
She is my other half.
656
00:49:05,752 --> 00:49:07,272
She took a book and fanned it over us.
657
00:49:11,823 --> 00:49:13,826
The Spetznaz held their fire,
658
00:49:13,860 --> 00:49:16,896
getting ready for a possible
assault on the school.
659
00:49:16,929 --> 00:49:19,098
We took our positions,
660
00:49:19,132 --> 00:49:22,002
got organized, established communications.
661
00:49:25,738 --> 00:49:28,241
Everyone felt a lot of responsibility.
662
00:49:31,578 --> 00:49:33,846
We were positioned
50 meters from the school.
663
00:49:33,880 --> 00:49:37,650
The whole left wing was our responsibility.
664
00:49:39,720 --> 00:49:42,488
We were constantly soothing the children.
665
00:49:42,522 --> 00:49:44,490
"We will be freed soon.
666
00:49:44,524 --> 00:49:47,393
"The cars are already
waiting for us outside.
667
00:49:47,427 --> 00:49:49,896
It will all be fine."
668
00:49:49,929 --> 00:49:52,065
But with the adults,
669
00:49:52,098 --> 00:49:54,535
we just shook our heads.
670
00:49:55,202 --> 00:49:57,171
And on the last day,
671
00:49:57,204 --> 00:50:01,308
even we didn't have any hope left.
672
00:50:01,341 --> 00:50:02,743
Some of the children seemed lost
673
00:50:03,777 --> 00:50:06,113
and began to hallucinate.
674
00:50:06,146 --> 00:50:10,517
My boy, Timor, could not sit still anymore.
675
00:50:10,551 --> 00:50:12,619
He got up and said,
676
00:50:12,653 --> 00:50:15,355
"I'm going to go to Grandpa's
and drink water."
677
00:50:15,389 --> 00:50:18,358
I got angry.
"Are you serious?
678
00:50:18,392 --> 00:50:20,494
Sit still!"
679
00:50:21,661 --> 00:50:23,997
I was just praying
680
00:50:24,031 --> 00:50:26,266
that my sister would be alive.
681
00:50:26,300 --> 00:50:28,620
Although the terrorists and
the government talked by phone,
682
00:50:29,002 --> 00:50:31,672
the conversations led nowhere.
683
00:50:33,007 --> 00:50:35,076
Aushev knew the demand for Russia
684
00:50:35,176 --> 00:50:38,212
to pull troops out of Chechnya
was impossible,
685
00:50:38,245 --> 00:50:40,214
but he thought the Russian government
686
00:50:40,247 --> 00:50:42,851
should agree to anything
to free the hostages.
687
00:50:44,385 --> 00:50:47,654
I have four children,
688
00:50:47,688 --> 00:50:52,527
and I imagined, if my children
were among the hostages,
689
00:50:52,560 --> 00:50:56,430
everything should have been done
to save these children.
690
00:51:01,836 --> 00:51:04,204
Now in the third day,
691
00:51:04,238 --> 00:51:06,274
hundreds of children were suffering
692
00:51:06,307 --> 00:51:07,342
from severe dehydration.
693
00:51:09,879 --> 00:51:12,680
Thousands of townspeople
were demanding action.
694
00:51:15,316 --> 00:51:18,120
The end begins with an explosion
695
00:51:18,154 --> 00:51:22,257
inside the packed gym
at 1:06 in the afternoon.
696
00:51:37,138 --> 00:51:39,541
An explosion came out of the blue,
697
00:51:40,408 --> 00:51:42,010
unpredictably.
698
00:51:42,043 --> 00:51:44,146
It was very hard to describe.
699
00:51:44,180 --> 00:51:46,782
In the first minute, everyone was in shock.
700
00:51:46,815 --> 00:51:48,335
Within seconds, some hostages escaped.
701
00:51:52,254 --> 00:51:54,256
Then, shouts could be heard...
702
00:51:54,290 --> 00:51:57,259
shouts, wails, and groans.
703
00:52:02,698 --> 00:52:04,378
We felt as if fire was poured all over us.
704
00:52:06,202 --> 00:52:08,870
We felt ourselves thrown against the wall.
705
00:52:08,903 --> 00:52:10,940
I fell on a body.
706
00:52:10,973 --> 00:52:12,333
We all felt as if we were on fire;
707
00:52:13,609 --> 00:52:17,178
so enormous was the heat that engulfed us.
708
00:52:17,212 --> 00:52:19,248
I checked my arms and legs.
709
00:52:19,281 --> 00:52:21,201
It seemed incredible
that after such an explosion
710
00:52:22,953 --> 00:52:26,188
they would still be in place.
711
00:52:28,325 --> 00:52:31,493
Moments later,
a furious gun battle erupted.
712
00:52:40,069 --> 00:52:42,271
They just opened fire.
713
00:52:42,304 --> 00:52:44,306
They started firing at the school.
714
00:52:50,312 --> 00:52:52,114
When we saw all civilians
715
00:52:52,581 --> 00:52:54,918
and all military moving toward the school,
716
00:52:54,951 --> 00:52:57,887
we understood that something
just is going wrong.
717
00:53:03,294 --> 00:53:05,595
At first, I thought it was
just another explosion.
718
00:53:05,629 --> 00:53:08,431
But when I heard the machine gun volleys...
719
00:53:10,734 --> 00:53:13,903
I figured something
extraordinary was going on.
720
00:53:15,372 --> 00:53:17,212
I prayed to God
for the children to stay alive,
721
00:53:19,042 --> 00:53:22,545
because only God could help them now.
722
00:53:26,182 --> 00:53:29,586
But the fight was complicated
by dozens of armed citizens
723
00:53:29,619 --> 00:53:32,522
also trying to kill terrorists.
724
00:53:35,226 --> 00:53:38,194
There were people dressed
in shorts and flip-flops
725
00:53:38,228 --> 00:53:40,298
with submachine guns.
726
00:53:40,331 --> 00:53:41,331
The main mass of them was
727
00:53:42,333 --> 00:53:44,335
an uncontrolled crowd
of people with weapons,
728
00:53:44,368 --> 00:53:46,069
gripped with emotions.
729
00:53:46,102 --> 00:53:48,973
I wouldn't exclude that they
might have shot some hostages.
730
00:53:51,509 --> 00:53:53,843
Numerous explosions...
731
00:53:53,877 --> 00:53:55,945
shook the school.
732
00:54:01,318 --> 00:54:03,687
My daughter didn't have a scratch on her.
733
00:54:03,720 --> 00:54:06,557
She asked me if Mommy was dead.
734
00:54:08,793 --> 00:54:11,429
I laid my dead wife on her back.
735
00:54:13,698 --> 00:54:17,201
I saw two large dead women
lying at an angle...
736
00:54:19,503 --> 00:54:21,138
and I tucked my daughter under them
737
00:54:21,505 --> 00:54:23,875
and lay on top of her,
738
00:54:23,909 --> 00:54:26,644
shielding her from subsequent explosions.
739
00:54:29,213 --> 00:54:32,217
Heavenly kingdom to these women.
740
00:54:34,418 --> 00:54:36,620
After the explosions,
741
00:54:36,654 --> 00:54:38,956
there was a pile of dead children's bodies,
742
00:54:38,989 --> 00:54:41,159
and then complete silence.
743
00:54:49,601 --> 00:54:51,570
Among the smoke and carnage,
744
00:54:51,603 --> 00:54:53,472
Elena lost sight of her son, Timor.
745
00:54:56,007 --> 00:54:58,008
I couldn't locate him.
746
00:54:58,043 --> 00:55:00,178
All the children looked the same.
747
00:55:04,416 --> 00:55:07,719
I got up, all covered
in blood from my legs.
748
00:55:07,753 --> 00:55:10,389
My daughter was soaked in my blood.
749
00:55:10,422 --> 00:55:12,491
I lifted my daughter,
750
00:55:12,524 --> 00:55:15,961
stepped over guts, legs, bodies.
751
00:55:15,994 --> 00:55:17,696
Then my daughter saw it all,
752
00:55:17,996 --> 00:55:19,965
and I covered her face with my jacket
753
00:55:19,998 --> 00:55:23,768
to prevent her from seeing more.
754
00:55:28,741 --> 00:55:30,909
So many people just started running.
755
00:55:33,479 --> 00:55:34,519
Mothers started screaming,
756
00:55:35,014 --> 00:55:37,483
thinking that just all the kids are dead.
757
00:55:50,695 --> 00:55:54,233
Stripped to their underwear
because of the unbearable heat,
758
00:55:54,267 --> 00:55:56,802
those children who could, ran.
759
00:56:38,144 --> 00:56:40,347
After the second explosion,
760
00:56:40,380 --> 00:56:42,850
I saw a lot of children
climbing over the windowsill.
761
00:56:42,883 --> 00:56:45,719
That gave me the idea
to escape through the window.
762
00:56:50,190 --> 00:56:53,260
With bullets flying,
Elena ran across the schoolyard.
763
00:56:55,796 --> 00:56:57,664
I saw some garages.
764
00:56:57,698 --> 00:57:00,199
There were other women there with children.
765
00:57:00,233 --> 00:57:02,636
I saw a woman fall down by the garages.
766
00:57:04,238 --> 00:57:06,206
This woman was shot in her back,
767
00:57:06,240 --> 00:57:08,508
right in front of my eyes.
768
00:57:08,541 --> 00:57:10,510
Dmitry turned his lens towards Elena,
769
00:57:11,078 --> 00:57:14,081
who was bleeding from a wound to the head.
770
00:57:14,114 --> 00:57:18,719
The first people I saw
were two men from our town.
771
00:57:18,752 --> 00:57:21,856
They were armed.
They told me to run over to him.
772
00:57:21,890 --> 00:57:24,258
He helped me cross back to safety.
773
00:57:29,864 --> 00:57:32,699
Still trapped inside,
Sergei and his daughter
774
00:57:32,733 --> 00:57:35,068
were ordered to move to the cafeteria.
775
00:57:35,402 --> 00:57:38,306
And I went through the mess.
776
00:57:38,339 --> 00:57:41,208
All those wounded... I couldn't help them.
777
00:57:41,241 --> 00:57:42,843
God forgive me.
778
00:57:43,143 --> 00:57:46,381
Terrorists surrounded
themselves with hostages,
779
00:57:46,414 --> 00:57:49,750
using them as human shields.
780
00:57:49,783 --> 00:57:52,520
Then I got a piece of shrapnel in my back.
781
00:57:52,554 --> 00:57:56,291
I was in a lot of pain, screamed,
782
00:57:56,324 --> 00:57:59,127
and lost control of my daughter.
783
00:57:59,160 --> 00:58:01,520
The bandits were shooting from
behind the women and children
784
00:58:01,996 --> 00:58:04,632
who were falling down, screaming,
785
00:58:04,666 --> 00:58:06,935
"Don't shoot!"
786
00:58:11,372 --> 00:58:14,409
Spetznaz troops started
moving into the school.
787
00:58:16,611 --> 00:58:19,080
My job was to give them cover.
788
00:58:22,617 --> 00:58:26,387
The battle for Beslan School
Number 1 went on for hour...
789
00:58:28,855 --> 00:58:31,293
after hour...
790
00:58:32,995 --> 00:58:34,797
after hour.
791
00:58:34,830 --> 00:58:37,465
It was just so long.
792
00:58:45,907 --> 00:58:47,442
I remember myself praying that moment.
793
00:58:52,581 --> 00:58:55,550
And I remember all this noise
and everything,
794
00:58:55,583 --> 00:58:57,886
like, around me,
795
00:58:57,920 --> 00:58:59,355
everywhere.
796
00:59:04,158 --> 00:59:05,894
And that was just so scary.
797
00:59:05,929 --> 00:59:09,531
That seems like it's a war
or something like that.
798
00:59:12,701 --> 00:59:15,271
And it seemed like there were
thousands of terrorists
799
00:59:15,305 --> 00:59:17,640
and they were everywhere.
800
00:59:27,082 --> 00:59:30,352
Amid the chaos, Dmitry shot
this series of pictures.
801
00:59:30,386 --> 00:59:33,356
And you can see here nobody's moving.
802
00:59:33,390 --> 00:59:35,758
It looks like everyone is dead.
803
00:59:35,791 --> 00:59:37,311
And there was a silhouette of a child.
804
00:59:38,427 --> 00:59:41,531
The young girl pulled herself up
805
00:59:41,564 --> 00:59:44,300
and climbed back into the gym.
806
00:59:46,136 --> 00:59:48,304
She should run away.
807
00:59:48,338 --> 00:59:52,075
She should just go,
and instead she crawled back.
808
00:59:53,643 --> 00:59:55,945
Then there was a third explosion,
809
00:59:55,979 --> 00:59:58,447
and then I just put
my lens down because I just...
810
00:59:58,480 --> 01:00:00,717
I couldn't continue taking pictures.
811
01:00:00,750 --> 01:00:02,452
It was, I thought...
812
01:00:02,485 --> 01:00:04,187
Well, this is... this is too much.
813
01:00:04,220 --> 01:00:06,221
Look, this is too much.
814
01:00:06,255 --> 01:00:08,258
I was sure that this was it for her.
815
01:00:08,291 --> 01:00:09,611
I was sure that she has perished.
816
01:00:11,061 --> 01:00:14,030
In a few minutes, the roof collapsed.
817
01:00:23,039 --> 01:00:25,279
There weren't enough ambulances
to carry all the wounded.
818
01:00:31,815 --> 01:00:35,319
Children were rushed
to hospitals by family car...
819
01:00:39,189 --> 01:00:40,690
or in a loved one's arms.
820
01:00:57,608 --> 01:01:01,179
It took nearly ten hours
before the shooting stopped.
821
01:01:13,190 --> 01:01:15,159
After the battle was over,
822
01:01:15,192 --> 01:01:18,697
there were still two bastards
maneuvering here.
823
01:01:18,730 --> 01:01:20,131
And, you know,
824
01:01:20,164 --> 01:01:21,956
the Spetznaz decided
not to waste their people,
825
01:01:21,966 --> 01:01:23,901
and they just called up for tanks.
826
01:01:23,934 --> 01:01:26,937
And from over there,
the tank just took them out.
827
01:01:39,184 --> 01:01:43,355
One by one, the wounded
and the dead were carried out.
828
01:02:01,205 --> 01:02:03,446
Eighteen Spetznaz soldiers
lost their lives in the fight.
829
01:02:09,146 --> 01:02:12,752
Just beyond the school, families reunited,
830
01:02:12,785 --> 01:02:14,787
sometimes in joy...
831
01:02:21,327 --> 01:02:25,096
...but too often in despair.
832
01:02:38,511 --> 01:02:42,047
For Dariya Fadeeva and thousands of others,
833
01:02:42,080 --> 01:02:44,583
a desperate search began.
834
01:03:22,520 --> 01:03:25,192
Room to room, corridor by corridor,
835
01:03:25,225 --> 01:03:27,227
floor by floor,
836
01:03:27,261 --> 01:03:29,762
from top to the bottom...
837
01:03:33,400 --> 01:03:35,736
a massacre.
838
01:03:41,775 --> 01:03:43,877
It was chaos.
It was pain.
839
01:03:43,911 --> 01:03:46,712
It was, um...
840
01:03:46,746 --> 01:03:48,748
It was despair,
841
01:03:48,781 --> 01:03:51,618
a hundred percent total despair.
842
01:03:57,089 --> 01:03:59,126
People were calling each other.
843
01:03:59,159 --> 01:04:01,629
"Have you seen my daughter?"
"Have you seen my brother?"
844
01:04:01,662 --> 01:04:03,142
"Do you know
what happened to my son?"
845
01:04:24,418 --> 01:04:26,386
When the battle ended,
846
01:04:26,420 --> 01:04:28,420
the survivors and the dead
scattered across Beslan,
847
01:04:30,424 --> 01:04:33,661
to hospitals in neighboring towns,
848
01:04:33,695 --> 01:04:35,695
and some even to Moscow
for intensive medical care.
849
01:04:42,770 --> 01:04:46,240
People would usually start going morgues.
850
01:04:46,274 --> 01:04:48,810
There was one or two morgues.
851
01:04:48,843 --> 01:04:50,777
So, they would start from there.
852
01:04:50,811 --> 01:04:52,870
Then they would definitely
run through the hospitals,
853
01:04:52,880 --> 01:04:55,850
or just check anywhere
854
01:04:55,883 --> 01:04:58,486
because some hostages who were wounded
855
01:04:58,518 --> 01:05:00,239
were delivered Moscow,
Rostov, other places.
856
01:05:01,889 --> 01:05:04,392
And it was, again,
857
01:05:04,425 --> 01:05:06,194
a bit of chaos.
858
01:05:06,227 --> 01:05:07,947
Not everyone knew which hospital to search.
859
01:05:14,535 --> 01:05:16,175
Someone said they've seen Alia somewhere,
860
01:05:16,704 --> 01:05:18,774
in... in the hospital.
861
01:05:18,807 --> 01:05:20,809
And we were looking for her,
862
01:05:20,843 --> 01:05:23,945
like, asking doctors where could she be.
863
01:05:23,978 --> 01:05:28,183
And no one... like, there
was not anyone who knew.
864
01:05:28,217 --> 01:05:31,185
And then, Dariya's cell phone rang.
865
01:05:31,786 --> 01:05:33,321
Dariya.
866
01:05:34,989 --> 01:05:38,027
And when I heard her voice, oh, God...
867
01:05:38,060 --> 01:05:39,327
I mean...
868
01:05:40,461 --> 01:05:42,897
that was just like...
869
01:05:42,930 --> 01:05:45,768
like she's calling us from
heaven or something like that.
870
01:05:45,801 --> 01:05:47,136
I was... I don't know.
871
01:05:47,769 --> 01:05:50,938
I mean, I can't express
the feelings you have...
872
01:05:50,972 --> 01:05:53,276
these moments.
873
01:05:54,611 --> 01:05:56,378
Alia had severe shrapnel wounds
874
01:05:56,412 --> 01:05:58,414
to her legs and back.
875
01:05:58,447 --> 01:06:00,516
She was evacuated to Moscow
876
01:06:00,549 --> 01:06:02,652
where she has undergone three surgeries.
877
01:06:02,685 --> 01:06:03,685
She said,
878
01:06:04,686 --> 01:06:06,688
"Inside, I just wanted to see you,
879
01:06:06,722 --> 01:06:10,325
and I was praying
to see you again."
880
01:06:14,296 --> 01:06:16,432
Zalina went to the central hospital
881
01:06:16,465 --> 01:06:18,534
looking for Alana,
882
01:06:18,567 --> 01:06:19,568
but couldn't find her.
883
01:06:24,073 --> 01:06:26,108
When I broke down in tears,
884
01:06:26,141 --> 01:06:28,877
one of our relatives
came up to me and said,
885
01:06:28,911 --> 01:06:31,347
"Don't cry.
Why are you crying?
886
01:06:31,381 --> 01:06:33,483
She's alive."
887
01:06:39,355 --> 01:06:43,159
I entered her ward, and I
saw her lying on the bed.
888
01:06:43,193 --> 01:06:44,193
She gave me a smile.
889
01:06:46,262 --> 01:06:49,199
Alana had burns on her legs and back.
890
01:06:49,232 --> 01:06:51,768
She escaped, aided by a man
she didn't know.
891
01:06:59,642 --> 01:07:01,643
When it all ended,
892
01:07:01,677 --> 01:07:04,414
she said that a man, one of the terrorists,
893
01:07:04,447 --> 01:07:06,350
had saved her.
894
01:07:06,383 --> 01:07:08,543
He had told her to move
because the fire was spreading.
895
01:07:15,693 --> 01:07:17,253
He was soothing her and supporting her,
896
01:07:17,727 --> 01:07:19,729
saying, "It's okay.
897
01:07:19,762 --> 01:07:22,133
It will be over soon."
898
01:07:22,166 --> 01:07:24,068
Alana and her mother
are sure it was this man,
899
01:07:26,169 --> 01:07:28,271
Nurpashi Kulayev,
900
01:07:28,304 --> 01:07:31,709
the only terrorist known to have survived.
901
01:07:33,977 --> 01:07:37,113
He was saying that he was gonna die anyway,
902
01:07:37,147 --> 01:07:38,581
and that God will not forgive him
903
01:07:38,615 --> 01:07:40,451
for what he was doing there.
904
01:07:43,654 --> 01:07:45,623
For the Dzaparova family,
905
01:07:45,656 --> 01:07:47,758
who lost their camera to the terrorists,
906
01:07:47,791 --> 01:07:49,512
there was joy on the first day of school...
907
01:07:50,628 --> 01:07:53,097
a proud father filming his daughter...
908
01:07:53,130 --> 01:07:55,132
and then everything going so wrong.
909
01:07:57,768 --> 01:08:01,005
My husband Aslan died the first day.
910
01:08:02,239 --> 01:08:04,775
In fact, Aksana, his widow,
911
01:08:04,808 --> 01:08:09,246
believes his dead body may have
been filmed with his own camera.
912
01:08:10,948 --> 01:08:12,683
Aksana's two children survived,
913
01:08:14,384 --> 01:08:16,787
although Lynda was badly burned.
914
01:08:16,820 --> 01:08:20,125
And what virtually no one
except her husband knew
915
01:08:20,158 --> 01:08:21,878
was that she was pregnant during the siege.
916
01:08:22,793 --> 01:08:26,498
Their son Alec was born four months later.
917
01:08:34,706 --> 01:08:36,908
Elena's son, Timor,
918
01:08:36,942 --> 01:08:39,476
seen here in Beliakov photos,
919
01:08:39,510 --> 01:08:43,248
managed to climb out the same
shattered window as his mother.
920
01:08:45,650 --> 01:08:48,285
When my friend told us
to run to the other side,
921
01:08:48,319 --> 01:08:50,255
I was scared,
922
01:08:50,288 --> 01:08:52,958
but Timor was in such a strange state,
923
01:08:52,991 --> 01:08:53,991
as if he couldn't hear.
924
01:08:55,559 --> 01:08:57,829
He was to run first, and I was telling him,
925
01:08:57,862 --> 01:09:00,900
"Bend down.
Bend down."
926
01:09:00,933 --> 01:09:01,933
But he could not hear me.
927
01:09:05,003 --> 01:09:07,807
Maybe he had a concussion.
928
01:09:07,840 --> 01:09:10,575
I grabbed him, trying to make him bend down
929
01:09:10,609 --> 01:09:12,877
and run over to the other side.
930
01:09:12,911 --> 01:09:15,146
Timor ran to safety,
931
01:09:15,180 --> 01:09:17,316
covered in blood from others in the school.
932
01:09:17,984 --> 01:09:20,252
His physical wounds have healed.
933
01:09:20,285 --> 01:09:23,989
Emotionally, he is still on the mend.
934
01:09:27,759 --> 01:09:29,995
The boy has grown up,
935
01:09:30,028 --> 01:09:33,265
but life is also more difficult for him.
936
01:09:33,465 --> 01:09:35,468
He's nervous.
937
01:09:38,104 --> 01:09:40,339
He played only with toy guns,
938
01:09:40,373 --> 01:09:44,310
playing war for one whole month.
939
01:09:47,246 --> 01:09:49,582
After we published these pictures,
940
01:09:49,615 --> 01:09:53,085
I started receiving e-mails from readers,
941
01:09:53,119 --> 01:09:55,254
and they want us to find out the truth,
942
01:09:55,288 --> 01:09:57,757
what happened to this particular girl.
943
01:09:58,391 --> 01:10:01,327
We went through morgues,
944
01:10:01,360 --> 01:10:04,030
hospitals,
945
01:10:04,063 --> 01:10:05,598
lists of people missing, killed.
946
01:10:07,799 --> 01:10:10,069
I made something like a hundred prints
947
01:10:10,102 --> 01:10:12,773
of that picture where you
can see her in the profile.
948
01:10:12,806 --> 01:10:16,409
We put the print on TV,
on the local television station.
949
01:10:16,442 --> 01:10:18,812
Then we gave it to local newspapers.
950
01:10:18,845 --> 01:10:22,015
Then, after an exhaustive search,
951
01:10:22,115 --> 01:10:26,052
Beliakov was brought to a hospital room
952
01:10:26,085 --> 01:10:30,190
where he was introduced
to seven-year-old Aida Sidakova.
953
01:10:30,424 --> 01:10:33,225
I show her the picture and I ask her,
954
01:10:33,259 --> 01:10:35,428
"Is it you?"
955
01:10:35,461 --> 01:10:37,297
She said...
956
01:10:37,331 --> 01:10:39,451
She said, "Of course it's me."
I said, "Are you sure?"
957
01:10:39,566 --> 01:10:43,169
And I said,
"Why did you do it?"
958
01:10:45,806 --> 01:10:48,342
"Because I was looking
for my mama."
959
01:10:48,375 --> 01:10:50,844
Aida's mother did survive.
960
01:10:50,877 --> 01:10:52,846
Well, I had a state of tear.
961
01:10:52,879 --> 01:10:54,282
I had a state of tear,
962
01:10:54,849 --> 01:10:57,517
and I felt myself very, very happy.
963
01:10:57,551 --> 01:11:00,487
I just... I took her arm,
964
01:11:00,520 --> 01:11:02,489
her little arm, and I just...
965
01:11:02,522 --> 01:11:05,158
I kiss it.
966
01:11:05,192 --> 01:11:07,294
I was very, very happy.
967
01:11:11,465 --> 01:11:15,102
At the end of the battle
for School Number 1,
968
01:11:15,135 --> 01:11:18,605
Sergei Urmanov was fighting for life...
969
01:11:18,638 --> 01:11:21,708
his own and his daughter's.
970
01:11:23,910 --> 01:11:26,614
As I was carrying her,
I fell several times.
971
01:11:26,681 --> 01:11:28,482
My daughter asked me,
972
01:11:28,515 --> 01:11:32,253
"Daddy, why are you falling
all the time?"
973
01:11:32,286 --> 01:11:34,689
She was such a chatterbox.
974
01:11:36,424 --> 01:11:38,526
But as long as we were together,
975
01:11:38,559 --> 01:11:40,528
she didn't worry about anything.
976
01:11:40,561 --> 01:11:42,597
She trusted in me one million percent.
977
01:11:43,598 --> 01:11:47,168
She knew that, as long
as I'm near, all would be fine.
978
01:11:49,871 --> 01:11:51,839
But after an explosion,
979
01:11:51,873 --> 01:11:54,474
Sergei and his daughter were separated.
980
01:11:54,508 --> 01:11:57,245
She was shot, and died.
981
01:12:00,981 --> 01:12:03,317
He also lost his sister,
982
01:12:03,351 --> 01:12:06,789
three nieces, and his wife.
983
01:12:26,474 --> 01:12:28,609
At the remains of the school,
984
01:12:28,643 --> 01:12:30,878
family members and townspeople
985
01:12:30,912 --> 01:12:33,073
memorialized the suffering
by leaving bottles of water,
986
01:12:34,582 --> 01:12:38,085
hoping somehow to quench
the victims' thirst.
987
01:13:29,038 --> 01:13:31,440
The final toll was cruel.
988
01:13:33,309 --> 01:13:35,512
Of nearly 1,200 hostages,
989
01:13:35,645 --> 01:13:38,114
331 died,
990
01:13:40,182 --> 01:13:43,653
176 of them children.
991
01:13:44,254 --> 01:13:48,390
More than 500 others were wounded.
992
01:13:48,423 --> 01:13:51,561
Twenty-six children are now orphans.
993
01:13:57,901 --> 01:14:02,273
The survivors will never forget,
nor forgive, the terrorists.
994
01:14:08,946 --> 01:14:10,947
They are just animals
995
01:14:10,980 --> 01:14:13,016
without reason or heart inside them.
996
01:14:15,051 --> 01:14:16,051
They are not human.
997
01:14:25,261 --> 01:14:27,630
The main lesson of Beslan
998
01:14:27,664 --> 01:14:30,334
is that the problem of the Chechen republic
999
01:14:30,367 --> 01:14:32,603
must be solved.
1000
01:14:32,636 --> 01:14:34,638
Until we solve this problem,
1001
01:14:34,672 --> 01:14:38,409
we have no guarantee that there
will be no more terrorism.
1002
01:14:38,442 --> 01:14:40,402
We need to solve this problem
as soon as possible,
1003
01:14:41,545 --> 01:14:44,415
and solve it politically
1004
01:14:44,448 --> 01:14:47,918
because this problem
cannot be solved by force.
1005
01:14:56,327 --> 01:14:59,063
Russian President Vladimir Putin
1006
01:14:59,096 --> 01:15:03,267
flew down to the area
the day after the siege ended.
1007
01:15:08,038 --> 01:15:12,377
He visited a hospital but not the school.
1008
01:15:20,785 --> 01:15:23,388
It is said the visit was so short,
1009
01:15:23,421 --> 01:15:27,057
the engines on his plane were kept running.
1010
01:15:36,166 --> 01:15:38,570
We elect the president, the deputies,
1011
01:15:38,603 --> 01:15:41,639
the governors, all levels of power.
1012
01:15:41,672 --> 01:15:44,676
We pay them to defend us.
1013
01:15:44,709 --> 01:15:48,246
If people died, it means
we have all failed.
1014
01:15:56,688 --> 01:15:58,657
Today, in Beslan,
1015
01:15:58,690 --> 01:16:00,659
there is anger towards the terrorists,
1016
01:16:00,692 --> 01:16:02,827
but also toward the government.
1017
01:16:02,861 --> 01:16:05,096
Was their government incapable,
1018
01:16:05,130 --> 01:16:09,300
or worse, unwilling to save their children?
1019
01:16:17,375 --> 01:16:20,212
This experience has changed everything,
1020
01:16:22,048 --> 01:16:24,050
especially for Beslan.
1021
01:16:26,152 --> 01:16:30,489
This town is now associated
with horror, with death.
1022
01:16:32,091 --> 01:16:33,771
And it's very hard to live after all this,
1023
01:16:37,529 --> 01:16:39,899
and it's going to get harder.
1024
01:16:56,749 --> 01:16:58,150
The people of Beslan have witnessed
1025
01:16:58,752 --> 01:17:00,821
the trial of the surviving terrorist
1026
01:17:00,854 --> 01:17:03,622
and seen government investigations,
1027
01:17:03,656 --> 01:17:05,536
but they believe their
president isn't with them
1028
01:17:06,993 --> 01:17:11,030
and doesn't care to answer their questions.
1029
01:17:16,903 --> 01:17:19,538
After being separated for months,
1030
01:17:19,572 --> 01:17:21,572
Dariya traveled to Moscow
to see her little sister.
1031
01:17:32,419 --> 01:17:34,387
She says she's doing fine,
1032
01:17:34,421 --> 01:17:37,491
but my mom says that
she's having, like, headaches
1033
01:17:38,125 --> 01:17:41,829
and she's still really weak.
1034
01:17:49,002 --> 01:17:50,871
She grew up.
1035
01:17:50,904 --> 01:17:53,039
She became...
1036
01:17:53,073 --> 01:17:54,793
really different person
than she used to be.
1037
01:18:00,180 --> 01:18:01,848
Alia rarely speaks about her friends.
1038
01:18:04,017 --> 01:18:06,719
Instead, she writes to them.
1039
01:18:12,693 --> 01:18:15,695
"I can't believe you're not here anymore.
1040
01:18:15,729 --> 01:18:19,534
"I can't believe that the light
of your life has faded.
1041
01:18:21,502 --> 01:18:23,603
"You were so precious to me,
1042
01:18:23,637 --> 01:18:26,140
"and now you are gone,
1043
01:18:26,240 --> 01:18:28,643
"and we can't bring you back.
1044
01:18:37,718 --> 01:18:40,420
"How can it be true
that you are really gone?
1045
01:18:40,453 --> 01:18:42,155
"I can't believe it.
1046
01:18:45,526 --> 01:18:48,596
"Because you were so young,
you could live on and on,
1047
01:18:48,629 --> 01:18:52,401
"bringing joy and happiness
to those closest to you.
1048
01:18:52,434 --> 01:18:54,503
"You really could.
1049
01:18:57,738 --> 01:18:59,058
"And now we can't bring you back,
1050
01:19:00,107 --> 01:19:02,177
"and I cannot fall asleep.
1051
01:19:04,478 --> 01:19:06,414
"You're in front of me
1052
01:19:06,447 --> 01:19:07,527
"with a smile on your face.
1053
01:19:11,786 --> 01:19:14,488
"And now I have this unbearable heartache
1054
01:19:14,956 --> 01:19:17,191
"and a wounded soul.
1055
01:19:18,894 --> 01:19:22,797
"And now I have this unbearable heartache
1056
01:19:22,830 --> 01:19:24,967
and a wounded soul."
79322
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