Tragic Events Lead to Brutal Jokes

Some people think that terrorist acts are a good reason to joke

A rather weird sense of humor develops for some Russian people at times. Tragic events in the country and people's fear of terrorists push certain individuals to making jokes about it. The more events happen, the more sophisticated jokes they invent.

At first they simply made false phone calls reporting bombs at schools, but now the tricks have changed a lot. An outburst of them was registered nationwide after the explosions in Moscow's Tushino district. In the city of Rostov, for example, a fake bomb was found in a bus near an old bus station. However, the incident that occurred in the settlement of Shakhty, was not noticed, although it happened almost at the same time.

One night, local residents found a ticking plastic bag between two kiosks in Shevchenko Street. Police officers and rescue services were set on alarm, cordons were put around the area immediately - the Office of the Public Prosecutor was situated very close to the site of the incident. Both employees of the office and the people from apartment buildings nearby had to be evacuated. Without waiting for reinforcement from Rostov, senior police lieutenant Roman Ryazhskikh decided to check the bag (he is also a bomb technician). Having put on flak jackets and helmets, Roman and his colleague carefully moved the bag from between the two kiosks. If the bomb had blasted between them, the effect would have been intensified with glass and plastic fragments.

Then the police officer opened the bag and took a shoe box out of it - something like plastid was rolled in cellophane there. Wires and a Chinese alarm clock were stuck to the package with adhesive tape. The alarm clock was not ticking at that moment anymore. "At first I thought that it was another test - people can make such jokes sometimes not to let the police relax. But the thing that I saw in the box did not look like a copy of a bomb. At any rate, I have not seen such a good fake bomb before. My clothes were all sweaty as I was opening the package - I was extremely nervous," Roman said.

Luckily, there was no plastid, but a piece of concrete inside. However, doctors had to render medical aid to several elderly people - they had a nervous breakdown. Some people can be really brutal in their jokes.

Alexander Sidorov