Ceremony in memory of victims of Karmadon gorge tragedy

On Saturday bells were chiming in the Karmadon gorge in North Ossetia (a North Caucasian republic making part of the Russian Federation). At the same time an aircraft flew over the gorge and dropped 125 carnations in memory of 125 victims of the Kolka glacier.

That was the beginning of the mournful ceremony to mark the first anniversary of the tragedy. The ceremony took place in the lower part of the gorge which a year ago the Kolka glacier and mud flows reached having covered dozens of kilometers within several minutes. As a result of that the gorge was transformed into a plain as ice thickness there amounts to about 100 meters.

While speaking at the ceremony Alexander Dzasokhov, President of the republic, stressed that "infinite sorrow did not separate peoples of North Ossetia, they were still united in their thoughts and actions." Dzasokhov stated that they had to revive the Karmadon gorge and that would be the best manifestation of the memory for the dead as sternness and beauty of the Karmadon gorge attracted attention of such people as Sergei Bodrov junior (Bodrov was a Russian cult actor and a film director who died there with his crew).

Sergei Bodrov senior, the father of Bodrov junior, who flew to North Ossetia the day before expressed gratitude to its peoples for participation in an uninterrupted search for his son.

In the lower part of the gorge where the mournful ceremony took place a memorial to the victims of the element will be inaugurated in the next few days. A 6-meters high monument displays a figure of a young man trying to break away from ice bondage. It is located on a 50-meter high hill where 100 steps 3 meters wide and set off by natural flowers are coming up from the road.

The mournful ceremony was attended by about 3,000 residents of North Ossetia, about 150 relatives and friends of the dead who arrived from other cities and regions of Russia. When the ceremony was over many people went by the detour road to the upper part of the gorge from where last year the Kolka glacier descended.