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S02 Episode 4: When the Snow Melts pt.2

S02 Episode 4: When the Snow Melts pt.2

Released Wednesday, 26th April 2017
 2 people rated this episode
S02 Episode 4: When the Snow Melts pt.2

S02 Episode 4: When the Snow Melts pt.2

S02 Episode 4: When the Snow Melts pt.2

S02 Episode 4: When the Snow Melts pt.2

Wednesday, 26th April 2017
 2 people rated this episode
Rate Episode

Episode Transcript

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0:10

Knee deep in snow by the banks of the

0:12

Lozva River, Boris slops off,

0:15

pulled the hood up over his head, and tied

0:17

the flaps of his hat down tightly below

0:19

his chin. It

0:21

was all he could do to stop the incessant pelting

0:24

of his face by the flecks of snow

0:26

being whipped up relentlessly by the wind.

0:30

In the distance, he can hear the repetitive,

0:32

dull chop of helicopter blades. The

0:35

sound gets closer and closer, until

0:37

eventually the olive green m I

0:39

four finally comes into view. Squinting

0:43

now into the sun, he watches

0:45

as it makes a slow, lumbering turn across

0:48

the sky, before settling over the Lozva

0:51

and forging a path straight towards

0:53

him. And then,

0:56

just as it's about to fly above his head, it

0:58

makes a sharp bank to the right. Boris

1:02

is close enough to see the copilot wave

1:04

before throwing something out of the cockpit.

1:09

Boris watches as the object drops

1:11

from the sky, its red ribbon

1:14

flapping manically as it falls, before

1:16

nestling in the snow meters away from

1:18

Boris's feet. He

1:20

hurries over and pulls the canister free

1:23

unscrewing the cap to find a message

1:25

for his team lodged inside. It

1:29

tells them to head towards the Auspia

1:31

River, roughly three kilometers to the

1:33

south. It

1:36

is Wednesday, February the twenty fifth, exactly

1:39

four weeks since Yuri Yuden was

1:41

forced to abandon Eager Diatlov and

1:44

the eight other friends he had been accompanying

1:46

as part of an expedition towards O'tauton

1:49

Mountain in the Russian Urals. It

1:52

had been a painful decision for Yuri, but

1:55

one perhaps not quite as painful as

1:57

the crippling effects of rheumatism

1:59

that had plagued him throughout the journey and

2:02

in the end left him with little choice but

2:04

to turn back. Urie

2:07

had last been with the group in the north to

2:10

settlement an old, abandoned

2:12

geological site from which they

2:14

were due to strike out towards O'torton

2:16

Mountain a short time after they

2:18

had said their goodbyes. The

2:21

team had been expected to arrive back

2:23

in their hometown of spurred Lovsk on

2:25

February the thirteenth,

2:28

almost two weeks ago, but

2:31

the team had never returned. Twenty

2:35

two year old Boris Slobsov is a

2:37

friend of Eagers and a member of

2:39

the same hiking club. He

2:42

too had planned to one day make the

2:44

hike to O'tauton Mountain, but

2:47

never could he have imagined it would be under

2:49

circumstances such as these. Boris

2:53

had been one of the first to volunteer to

2:55

help find the team, after concerns

2:58

had been voiced about their whereabouts. The

3:01

alarm had been raised by anxious parents

3:04

on the thirteenth, but it would be almost

3:06

another week before hiking club officials

3:09

deem it a serious concern worthy

3:11

of a formal search and rescue operation.

3:14

It was, after all, not uncommon

3:16

for such lengthy hikes to suffer

3:19

the odd one or two days delay, But

3:22

when a whole week later there

3:24

is still no word from the team,

3:26

it is clear that something has gone drastically

3:29

wrong. The

3:37

Ural Polytechnic's first response is

3:40

to dispatch hiking club director Lev

3:42

Gordo and young Yurie Blinov,

3:45

who had traveled part way with the Diatlov

3:47

team prior to their disappearance, to

3:50

undertake a quick air surveillance of

3:52

the team's probable route. Meanwhile,

3:55

in Evedale, the town closest

3:58

to where the team was last seen, A

4:00

criminal investigation is opened up, led

4:03

by local prosecutor Vasili

4:05

Tempolov. A

4:07

three pronged attack is established when

4:10

experienced hiker Yevgeny Maslennikov

4:13

is also enlisted to help run things

4:15

on the ground. Yevgeny,

4:18

who was well aware of Eager and his compatriots,

4:21

having initially helped them to plan their route,

4:23

wastes little time in joining the search.

4:27

On the twenty fourth, Tempolov agrees

4:30

to open up the search to include all possible

4:32

routes taken by Tiatlov's team, and

4:35

by now, with news of the team's

4:37

disappearance spreading throughout the region,

4:40

many volunteers have come forward to offer

4:42

their help, including members

4:44

of the family, fellow students,

4:47

and workers from the local camps.

4:51

The search is given an early boost when

4:54

Gordo and Blinov pick up a trail

4:56

that leads them to a Manzi village called

4:59

bartier Rova. The

5:01

Manse are an indigenous people of

5:03

western Siberia, an

5:06

area running roughly fifteen hundred

5:08

kilometers from the Ural Mountains

5:10

to the Great Jense River in the east.

5:14

This vast stretch of land is sometimes

5:16

referred to as Ugra Land,

5:19

but is now commonly known as the

5:21

Kanti Mansisk Autonomous

5:23

District. It

5:25

is believed that Manse have populated the

5:27

region since the Mesolithic Age, sharing

5:30

ancestors with both the people of Hungary

5:33

and Finland. They

5:36

are historically known for their proficiency

5:38

in hunting, fishing, and reindeer

5:40

breeding, but they are also a

5:43

superstitious people, steeped

5:45

in a rich culture and folklore unique

5:47

to themselves but also to

5:50

this region, although

5:52

some have claimed an ancient lineage that

5:54

goes back to the Sumerians, whom

5:57

many consider to be the first great civilization.

6:02

To look upon the Ural Mountains through

6:04

the eyes of the Mansie is to see

6:06

another world hidden from the view

6:08

of most. It

6:11

is a sacred place, home to

6:13

spirits and gods, and

6:15

many an unsolved ancient mystery.

6:26

Although for Gordo and Glinov the trail

6:29

goes cold in Bartia Rova,

6:31

their efforts have caught the attention of

6:33

several Mansie tribesmen, who,

6:36

like everybody else, are deeply moved

6:38

by the plight of the missing students. The

6:41

offer to lend their unparalleled local knowledge

6:44

and tracking skills to the search is

6:46

gratefully accepted. The

6:48

Mansie team is led by Stepan Kurikov,

6:52

a warm hearted and hulking presence,

6:54

as well as being one of the most respected of

6:56

the tribal elders. A

7:00

few days later, the helicopter search

7:02

team picks up ski tracks heading

7:04

north from the Auspire River at the bottom

7:06

of a mountain known as Kolat Siakl,

7:10

but searches on the ground are unable

7:12

to establish any clear route before

7:14

bad weather brings the day's search to

7:16

an end. It is the following

7:19

day when Boris Slapsov and his team

7:21

receive their message to search the corresponding

7:24

area.

7:26

Later that afternoon, a breakthrough discovery

7:29

is made when Boris locates

7:31

one of the Diatlov team's campsites on

7:33

the banks of the river, just to the edge

7:35

of a forest. It is

7:37

clear that Diatlov's team would most likely

7:40

have stuck out from here and headed straight

7:42

towards a tautumn mountain over

7:44

the exposed banks of Colat Siakol,

7:48

But with night fast approaching and the weather

7:51

becoming increasingly volatile, Slobsov's

7:53

team are unable to follow suit and

7:56

a force to retreat into the tree line and

7:58

make camp for the night. That

8:02

evening, as the dark closed in around

8:04

them. With yet another day gone, Slopsov

8:07

can't help but think upon the fate of his

8:09

friends and to just what exactly

8:12

might be lying in wait, buried under

8:15

the snow. It

8:17

hasn't escaped his attention either, that

8:19

the name Collet Siakl translates

8:23

as dead Mountain. The

8:26

next day, Fabruary the twenty sixth,

8:28

Slopsov suggests that the team break

8:30

into pairs to widen the search area.

8:33

Boris joins up with fellow hiking

8:35

team member Mikhail's Sharavin, and

8:38

together they head off in the direction of O'tauton

8:41

across the eastern slope of Kolet

8:43

Siakl. That

8:46

afternoon, as the two hikers battle

8:48

raging winds and minus twenty degree

8:51

temperatures, the hikers

8:53

are three hundred meters from the top of the mountain

8:55

when Mikhail spots something up ahead

8:58

sticking out of the snow. It

9:00

looks like a tent. Getting

9:03

nearer, the thing starts to reveal

9:06

itself. They can now

9:08

clearly see the poles sticking out from

9:10

underneath and the south facing

9:12

entrance that remains intact while

9:15

the entire back half has collapsed

9:17

under the weight of snowfall. Boris

9:20

calls out hopefully for his friends,

9:23

but hears nothing in reply save

9:26

for the fierce whistling of the wind.

9:29

He steps toward the entrance, takes

9:31

a deep breath, and pulls back

9:33

the flap. It

9:43

is with an odd mix of relief and disappointment

9:46

that Boris finds the tent completely

9:48

deserted, the relief

9:50

being tempered by the fact that almost everything

9:53

that the hikers had been traveling with appeared

9:55

to have been left behind inside, as

9:57

if the team had just vanished into the

10:01

But for Boris, their absence provides

10:03

a glimmer of hope that his friends

10:06

might actually still be alive. Pushing

10:09

back on the heavy canvas, Boris

10:11

and Mikhail managed to write the tent

10:14

enough to take a proper look inside.

10:17

On the floor, they find the nine backpacks

10:20

belonging to each team member, as

10:22

well as each of their skis. Perhaps

10:25

most curiously, they find a jacket

10:28

left on the ground outside the tent.

10:32

Boris pulls it from the snow and scours

10:34

the surrounding area, hoping to spot

10:36

footprints or any other sign of

10:39

his friends, but sees only

10:41

the vast white emptiness, and

10:44

with dark clouds beginning to roll in, Boris

10:47

and Mikhail only have a few minutes

10:49

to gather what they can before reluctantly

10:52

being forced back to their camp. On

10:55

their return, Boris is able to send

10:57

word back to Evedale suggesting

11:00

all search efforts be concentrated on

11:02

the surrounding area. A

11:04

reply comes back to dig out a helicopter

11:07

landing site in preparation for over

11:09

fifty people who will be arriving the next

11:11

day. It

11:14

is another anxious night for Boris and his team,

11:16

and their attention is constantly drawn

11:19

to the items brought back from the abandoned

11:21

tent. The presence

11:23

of the items in Boris's tent seems

11:26

only to bring the absence of their owners closer,

11:29

as if they had merely stepped outside for

11:31

a moment before returning to

11:34

collect their things. Boris

11:37

picks up the jacket and examines the pockets,

11:40

hoping for any clue as to the team's

11:42

whereabouts. Inside,

11:44

he discovers a notebook, suggesting

11:46

the jacket was eager to Yatlovs.

11:49

Flicking through the pages, Boris discovers

11:52

a photograph. It is a portrait

11:54

of Zena. The

11:57

following day, Friday, the twenty seventh,

12:00

the search teams converge on the newly discovered

12:02

campsite, including police

12:04

equipped with search dogs. The

12:07

ensuing chaos threatens to undermine

12:09

any hope of finding tracks under the snow,

12:12

but remarkably, one of the team

12:14

find some twenty meters or so

12:17

from the tent, under a patch of

12:19

freshly fallen snow. They

12:22

see them clearly now veering off

12:24

down the side of the hill towards the

12:26

Lzva River valley. But

12:29

there is something very odd. Some

12:32

of the prints seemed bizarrely small,

12:35

almost as if whoever had made them had

12:37

not been wearing any shoes. And

12:40

there is another vital discovery, a

12:43

team diary kept by all the members of the group

12:46

to document their expedition. The

12:49

entries had been meticulously kept since

12:51

the first day, but had ended abruptly

12:54

on January the thirty first, suggesting

12:57

whatever happened likely occurred

12:59

around Ray the first, meaning

13:02

the group has now been missing for four

13:04

weeks. Are

13:09

you always taking care of your family?

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14:20

Slopsov's team, who are that morning searching

14:22

the banks of the Lozva River, are informed

14:25

of the tracks found leading towards their

14:27

location. Boris

14:29

plays out the scenario in his head until

14:32

he has transported back to the night the team

14:34

left the tent. He sees

14:36

them now, their movements echoing

14:39

through time as they descend down the

14:41

mountain and head for the shelter of the same

14:43

trees that he is walking among A

14:46

short time later, and Mikhail finds

14:49

something strange at the base of a cedar tree.

14:52

Poking through the snow, he finds the

14:54

charred remains of a makeshift fire that

14:57

had clearly been hastily put together. He

15:00

notices also that a number of the tree's

15:02

branches have been recently snapped

15:04

off. And then,

15:07

just north of the tree, there is

15:09

something else sticking out of the snow, something

15:13

once soft but now as rigid

15:15

and hard as the cedar. It

15:18

is a human leg. For

15:22

Boris and his team, it is a devastating

15:24

discovery, and one that will extinguish

15:27

any remaining hope of finding his friends

15:29

alive. But for

15:32

us it merely marks another beginning

15:34

to this strange and bizarre tale, for

15:37

it is about to get very weird. Indeed,

15:44

after Mikhail's grew some discovery, Boris

15:47

alerts mass Lennikov's team, and

15:49

together they carefully begin to excavate

15:51

the body from the snow. But

15:53

as they dig further, they discover not

15:56

one body, but two, lying

15:58

side by side together, with one

16:00

face down and the other face

16:03

up. As the last

16:05

of the snow is pushed from one of the faces, Boris

16:08

recoils in horror, the mouth,

16:10

nose, and eyes appear to have

16:12

been completely removed. Despite

16:16

the apparent mutilation, Boris

16:18

recognizes the face instantly as

16:21

Giorgi Kryvonnishenko. The

16:25

other body is soon revealed to be that

16:28

of Yuri Dorishenko, but

16:31

it's not until the full horror of the discovery

16:34

has sunk in that they notice

16:36

something peculiar about the clothes

16:38

on the bodies, or rather the

16:41

lack of them. Georgy

16:44

appears not to be wearing a jacket or trousers,

16:47

just one checkered shirt and some

16:49

swimming trunks under long underwear. Even

16:53

more bizarrely, the left leg of the underwear

16:55

has been ripped off and his feet are

16:58

completely bare. Doroshenko

17:01

appears somewhat better dressed, with an undershirt,

17:04

check top, long underwear and

17:06

socks, but no shoes. His

17:10

clothes also appear to have been bizarrely

17:12

shredded. After

17:16

the discovery of the bodies, the focus

17:18

of the search switches quickly to the valley

17:21

Mancy elder Stepan Kurikov

17:24

leads the search along with his German

17:26

shepherd sniffer dog. Another

17:29

experienced hiker, Vladislav Kurelen,

17:32

has also joined the search. Vladislav

17:35

was a medical engineer who had cross

17:38

passed with Datlov's team. As they made their

17:40

way towards o' taunton. Having

17:43

located the first two bodies, it

17:45

isn't long before the German shepherd picks

17:47

up another ominous scent. Pulling

17:51

hard on the leash, he drags his owner

17:53

across to a spot where Stepan

17:55

recognizes something unnatural about

17:57

the way the birch tree shoots a sticky

18:00

out from the snow. The

18:02

dog sniffs heavily at the spot, and

18:05

soon they have made another gruesome

18:08

discovery, as just below

18:10

the surface they find an arm that

18:12

appears still to be pulling in desperation

18:15

at the shoots. This

18:17

body is better dressed than the other two, complete

18:20

with a sweater, fur vest and ski

18:22

trousers, but again extraordinarily,

18:26

there are no gloves and no shoes.

18:30

Vladislav Korellin recognizes

18:33

the face of Eager Diatlov.

18:37

Moments later, Evedale policeman

18:40

Lieutenant Nikolay Moisiev and

18:42

his dog Alma are heading back

18:44

from the trees towards the team's tent,

18:47

when Alma gets suddenly anxious and

18:49

begins to dig. Manikoi it

18:52

is yet another body, lying face

18:55

down with their knees bent, as if making

18:57

a final desperate bid to crawl back

18:59

to the same of the tent. Moisiev

19:04

turns the body over and is surprised

19:06

to find dried blood smeared

19:08

across the faith. The

19:11

body will later be identified as

19:13

that of Zena Kolmogorova.

19:25

Yevgeny Maslennikov, who by

19:28

now has been made head of the entire ground

19:30

search operation, orders

19:32

the bodies to be wrapped in tarpaulin and

19:35

taken to Boot Rock on the bank of

19:37

Kolatsiakl while they

19:39

await evacuation and formal

19:41

autopsy. Watching

19:44

as the bodies are laid out at the base of the rock,

19:47

Maslennikov can't help but begin to formulate

19:50

his own theories about just what might

19:52

have taken place. For

19:55

Maslennikov, it appears a simple

19:58

case of being caught out by the weather. Perhaps

20:01

one of the team stepped out of the tent only

20:04

to be swept away by the wind, prompting

20:07

his friends to make a fatal rescue attempt.

20:10

Or perhaps it was an avalanche that scared

20:12

them from the safety of their tent and left

20:14

them catastrophically disorientated.

20:18

Only if the wind or avalanche

20:20

had been so strong as to push the hikers

20:22

down the valley, why was the

20:24

tent still clinging so firmly to the

20:26

side of the mountain, its poles

20:29

still standing as they would have been the

20:31

day they were pitched. The

20:34

day after the four bodies are discovered, Prosecutor

20:37

Vasily Tempelof finally arrives

20:40

on the scene to make his own assessment of

20:42

the evidence. He makes

20:44

a note of the various items found at

20:46

the campsite, but also he

20:48

is the first person to notice something odd

20:51

about the tent itself. It

20:54

may have still been standing, but what no

20:56

one had seemed to notice before was

20:58

that one side of it had been completely

21:01

and unnaturally slashed to pieces.

21:05

But before Tempolov can get his teeth

21:08

into the investigation, he is told

21:10

to step down from the operation. On

21:13

the morning of Sunday, March first, yet

21:16

another helicopter arrives at the search headquarters

21:19

at the foot of Kolat Siakle. The

21:22

door is opened and outsteps

21:24

the determined figure of lev Ivanov,

21:28

junior Counsel of Justice and now

21:31

lead investigator on the case. He

21:34

adjusts his glasses and pulls his jacket

21:36

tighter before being led away from

21:38

the chopper and straight into the fray.

21:42

Moments later, he is casting his

21:45

eyes over the makeshift fire at the base

21:47

of the cedar tree. Suddenly,

21:50

with Ivanov on the scene, the investigation

21:53

seems to have taken on another guise, like

21:56

something from a classic detective novel. There

21:59

is more than the touch of the brooding, enigmatic

22:01

hero about Ivanov, his

22:04

thick, black rimmed glasses lending

22:06

a cerebral air to this intense

22:09

veteran of the Great Patriotic War.

22:13

Immediately, he makes note of a number

22:15

of branches snapped from up high in the tree.

22:18

Perhaps one of the team climbed the tree in

22:20

an attempt to call the others, or

22:22

maybe he had been trying to escape

22:25

from something. He

22:28

also notices another pair of footprints

22:30

in the snow, suggesting that Georgi

22:32

and Yuri weren't alone when

22:34

they died. He begins

22:37

to ponder as to just why they let the fire

22:39

burn out if there was plenty of firewood

22:42

around to be used. Meanwhile,

22:46

Maslennikov is overseeing a team of

22:48

thirty men lined up shoulder

22:51

to shoulder as they probe the ground

22:53

with steel avalanche poles. That

22:57

day, they cover a region of roughly

22:59

thirty thousand square yards, but

23:02

the search yields nothing more. Later,

23:06

Ivanov and Maslennikov will together

23:09

analyze the abandoned tent, leaving

23:11

Ivanov convinced more than ever that

23:14

whatever killed Diatlov's team members, it

23:17

wasn't the wind and it wasn't

23:19

heavy snowfall. On

23:22

March, the second one of the search teams

23:24

comes across a story shelter perched

23:27

high up in the trees, laden with

23:29

various supplies. It

23:31

is a common practice for hiking teams to

23:33

unburden themselves before venturing out on

23:36

the most grueling part of a journey. This

23:38

appears to have been the case with Diatlov's

23:40

team. The

23:42

search party are moved to find Georgy's

23:45

mandolin amongst the items of food.

23:48

It is a stark and sudden reminder of

23:50

a time before. Later

23:54

that day, after the news of the store camp

23:56

is passed up the chain, something a

23:58

little more peculiar comes to light

24:01

when Maslennikov is approached by one

24:03

of the searches. It

24:05

is Vladislav Karelin, the mountaineer

24:08

who found Eager's body the previous week,

24:11

and he has had something on his mind ever

24:13

since. On

24:20

the night of February the seventeenth, Karelin

24:23

was hiking with his own team close to the trail

24:25

that Dyatlov and his team had been taking

24:28

when they witnessed something strange in the sky.

24:32

A member of his group, Georgi at Menaki,

24:35

had woken early to make breakfast when

24:37

he noticed a large, bright white spot

24:40

in the distance above them. He

24:42

points it out to his friend Vladimir

24:45

Chavkunov, believing it to

24:47

be an especially bright moon, but

24:50

Chavkunov was concerned there

24:52

was no moon that morning, and in

24:54

any case, if there had been, it

24:57

would have been on the other side of the sky. Then

25:01

suddenly, a spark lit in the

25:03

center of the spot that seemed to burn

25:05

brighter, getting bigger in sides, before

25:07

flying off quickly to the west. The

25:11

light would eventually get so big that

25:13

they believed it was going to collide with the earth

25:16

and kill them all, and

25:19

they weren't the only ones to see it, as

25:21

many local villages would later

25:23

come forward attesting to the bizarre sighting.

25:27

Maslennikov agrees it is certainly something

25:30

to think about, but as he reminds

25:32

Karelin Diatlov's team most

25:35

likely died around the turn of the month, a

25:37

good two weeks prior to the appearance

25:40

of the strange light, but

25:43

when the news reaches Ivanov, he

25:45

finds it a little harder to shake. Later

25:49

that afternoon, as he watches the

25:51

bodies of Eager Yuri, Yorgi

25:54

and Sina being loaded into the

25:56

helicopter, talk of the strange

25:58

lights and fire in the sky weighs

26:01

heavily on his mind. It

26:04

certainly wouldn't be the first time that something

26:06

unknown had occurred in this nation, something

26:09

perhaps carried out in secret and

26:11

kept hidden from view. As

26:15

he climbs in after the bodies, Maslennikov

26:18

is there to see him off as the chopper lifts

26:20

up into the air and flies away on

26:22

its journey back to Evedale. The

26:25

following day, with the search now starting

26:28

to deliver results, Yuri Blinov,

26:31

one of the last people to see his friends alive

26:33

and who had worked so tirelessly over the

26:35

past seven days to help find them, decides

26:39

it is time to return home. The

26:47

bodies are taken to the hospital of Labor

26:49

Camp H two forty in Evedale

26:52

and left to thor out before the formal autopsy

26:55

can begin. Or

26:57

March the fourth, the Regional Bureau

26:59

of Forensic pathologist Boris Alexeyevitch

27:02

vosros Deny and the city

27:04

medical examiner Ivan Ivanovitch

27:07

Laptev begin the procedure. Both

27:11

Yury and Gyrgy display signs of burns

27:13

to the side of their heads, consistent

27:15

perhaps with the fact that they had fallen so close

27:18

to the makeshift fire. As

27:21

for Gyorgy's missing features, they

27:23

are deemed likely to have been eaten by ravenous

27:26

animals. Post mortem, The

27:30

litany of abrasions and spots of dried

27:32

blood found on all of the bodies suggest

27:34

final moments of wild panic, but

27:37

are not thought to be particularly suspicious

27:41

given the location of where the bodies were found

27:44

and the time of year. It is perhaps

27:46

unsurprising when a verdict of death by

27:48

hypothermia is returned on all

27:50

four of the victims, and

27:53

yet looking closer at the autopsy

27:56

report reveals a number of peculiar

27:58

findings. Skin

28:01

from one of Gilgi's right knuckles is

28:04

found in his mouth, suggesting

28:06

he must have bitten it off himself, perhaps

28:09

to force his hands to move, or

28:11

as some have suggested may be to

28:13

stifle a cry. Eager's

28:17

body shows signs of vomiting blood,

28:20

with Ury's autopsy noting signs

28:22

of fluid in the lungs as

28:24

well as bruises sustained by some kind

28:26

of blunt trauma, and

28:28

something found on Zena's back also

28:31

catches the eye, a long,

28:33

bright red bruise, the sort

28:35

you might sustain, perhaps after

28:37

being clubbed by a heavy object. Meanwhile,

28:43

in a room not far away, Ury

28:45

Yudin has been summoned by lead investigator

28:48

lev Ivanov. Incredibly,

28:51

yuden had been one of the last to learn of the

28:53

rescue operation to find Datlov's

28:56

team, having decided to recuperate

28:58

in his hometown of emily Chevka before

29:01

returning to spurred Lovsk, and

29:04

now he was being given the somber task

29:07

of sorting through all the team's personal belongings

29:09

in order to assign them to their correct owner.

29:14

He too, finds the picture of Zena in

29:16

Eager's notebook, and manages

29:19

a rise's smile when he finds a packet

29:21

of cigarettes secretly stashed away

29:23

in Alexander Kolovatov's bag. But

29:29

back on kolatsiakl the search continues,

29:32

and on March fifth, another body

29:34

is discovered. Karelin

29:37

had been searching a region in between

29:40

where Eager and Zena were found when

29:42

he hits something solid just below the surface.

29:46

Once the snow had been cleared, Karelin

29:49

recognizes the body as that of the much

29:51

loved Rustick Slobodin. Unlike

29:55

the others, Roostick seems almost properly

29:57

dressed, but something else immediately

30:00

catches Krellin's attention. There

30:03

is a severe discoloring on the front of his head,

30:06

while a patch of ice close to his mouth

30:09

suggests that he had been alive for some time

30:11

after he fell. Rustick's

30:16

injuries were confirmed by the pathologist

30:18

in an autopsy three days later as

30:21

being potentially consistent with damage

30:23

sustained from a blunt object. The

30:26

frontal bone of his skull is

30:28

found to be fractured, with severe hemorrhaging

30:31

in the temple region, as if he had

30:33

repeatedly been forced down onto his

30:35

face. Rustis

30:40

is the fifth body to be recovered, while

30:42

four of Diatlov's team remained

30:44

missing and the investigation

30:48

has only just begun. All

30:54

elements of unexplained are produced by me Richard

30:56

McClain Smith Please subscribe and rate

30:58

the show on iTunes. Feel free to get in touch

31:01

with any thoughts or ideas regarding the stories

31:03

you've heard on the show. Perhaps you have

31:05

an explanation of your own you'd like to share. You

31:08

can reach us online at Unexplained podcast dot

31:10

com or on Twitter at Unexplained

31:12

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