Volunteers continue searching for glacier victims in North Ossetia

Fifteen relatives and friends of the people killed last September by an avalanche in the Karmadon gorge in North Ossetia /Russia's republic in the North Caucasus/ continue search around the tunnel smothered by the glacier. They say they are going to act despite the decision of the republic's government to cease the rescue works.

The glacier went off on September 20th, 2002. 125 people were reported missing, including the film crew of the famous director and actor Sergei Bodrov, Jr. After eight months of search the rescuers found bodies of 19 people.

The volunteers intend to continue search "as long as it is necessary to make sure further search is useless," they say.

At present, they are investigating the entrance to the tunnel at a 70-meter depth. Over the past days they have managed to advance by approximately eight meters but had found nothing.

The Russian Emergency Ministry's information department has informed RIA Novosti that a rescue group remains in the gorge "to monitor the situation and observe the glacier".