The Dyatlov Pass Incident

The Dyatlov Pass Incident(en.wikipedia.org)

52 points by vinayakkulkarni 6 years ago | 16 comments

srper2 6 years ago |

Tent put in stupid spot on snow slope leading to it being hit by small avalanche in night, which slammed metal stove and wooden bunks into injured victims. Panicked, they cut open the tent from inside and ran from the slope, fearing another, worse avalance, taking injured people with them (leaving torch on tent in rush). Put the most injured in a small snow cave, wrapped her with their clothing, thinking they could go back for more and stay warm with a fire, but ran out of firewood (all small lower branches were broken from surrounding trees). Person/s tried to go back to tent and died of cold on way, others died quickly afterwards (paradoxical undressing etc). Nothing weird happened at all. Probably too much alcohol, stupidity, dumb decisions and then panick. There is a full Russian coroners report online.

chewz 6 years ago | |

> Tent put in stupid spot on snow slope leading to it being hit by small avalanche

Tent put in a place where slope is only 15 degrees, no signs of avalanche

> ran from the slope, fearing another, worse avalance, taking injured people with them

There were traces of 8 people walking slowly downhill

> ran out of firewood (all small lower branches were broken from surrounding trees

There was enough of dead wood around better as firewood then fresh branches. Te fire wasn't tended to at all.

> Person/s tried to go back to tent and died of cold on way

If you believe coroner report they were all quite well dressed (for example Kolmogorova - two hats, long sleeve undershirt, sweater, checked shirt and another sweater, cotton sport pants, trousers, ski pants and three pairs of socks. Two pairs were thin, then the third pair was woolen with insoles inside.)

https://dyatlovpass.com/death#Kolmogorova

> Probably too much alcohol

They have sworn off alcohol for the trip. A small flask of medicinal alcohol had been found sealed.

> There is a full Russian coroners report online

Coroner reports describe several traumas (pressing on chest cavity, bitten off finger found in the mouth (so bitten at the moment of death), severe burns consistent with torture rather then accidental burn, broken nose, choking with blood, bruise looking like left from a baton, fracture of the frontal bone and hemorrhages ) and then conclude hypothermia.

[] https://dyatlovpass.com/death

[] https://www.facebook.com/dyatlovmania/posts/forensic-patholo...

> It looks as if Rustem fell repeatedly on his face as he was walking down the mountain. And every time he fell he managed to hit the sides of the his head. Rustem's body was with icy bed under from the hardening of the thawing snow. This means that the body fell when relatively still warm and there was a noticeable heat exchange into the environment. []

https://dyatlovpass.com/death#Slobodin

chewz 6 years ago | | |

And for the record. (this info is better available to Russian speakers).

Russia general Attorney Office re-opened the case in February 2019. We might hope for some documents surfacing.

There is a lot of living witnesses coming forward on Russian TV (and also a lot of freaks).

There are no ground for exhumation of the bodies yet. Exception being the Semyon (Alexander) Zolotaryov for whose grave no records had been found. The grave had been opened and two DNA expertise made. First inconclusive and second confirmed a relation.

However there are still doubts about Zolotaryov identity. Coroner report describes tattoos [ “DAERMMUAZUAYA” ] (which only zeks (prisoners and criminal element) had at the time in Russia). Zolotaryov being handsome PE teacher (and wearing sleeveless shirt on multiple occasions) is well remembered by many as not having any tattoos.

Some people remember Zolotaryov's golden tooth, the exhumated body had multiple steel implants instead.

There is many more doubts about Zolotaryov's identity. He had been seen in two places at the same time on multiple occasions, he had a traitor brother (possibly kept in Gulag), he used two names (Semyon and Alexander), he worked as simple PE teacher but at one of the forbidden cities in Siberia, he moved a lot around the country on some tourist expedition always close to USSR borders. His little son vanished at the time of his death (into foster care) and never surfaced despite being actively searched for 50 years by boy's mother.

We also know that Yuri Krivonischenko's father was no ordinary Joe. He had been constructor of several atomic power plants in Russia and Ukraine protected personally by Stalin from persecution.

Yuri Krivonischenko had been working at Mayak in Chelyabinsk-40, where a massive nuclear disaster, second in severity only to Chernobyl, occurred in 1957.

Krivonischenko quit his job at Mayak abruptly just before the trip. He had received letter denying him to quit his job (that being Russia in 1959). He disregarded the letter (perhaps not being afraid of consequences due to his father's position).

As for Kolevatov we know he graduated from the Mining and Metallurgical College in Sverdlovsk and was sent to Moscow to work at secret PO Box No. 3394 (NKVD laboratory "B", focused on creating protection against ionizing radiation). Then he transferred back to UPI in Siberia. This is very unlikely to be voluntary career move but more of pattern of being recruited and given some mission.

> Only Muscovites received work in Moscow, and finding a job for a nonresident in the capital meant pulling out a winning lottery ticket.

Only Kolevatov had his Finish knife registered at the police. (At the time laws of USSR made possesion of Finish knife a criminal offence)

[] https://dyatlovpass.com/yuri-krivonichenko-mayak-documents

[] https://dyatlovpass.com/prosecutor-generals-office?lid=1

[] https://dyatlovpass.com/rakitin-on-kolevatov

mumblemumble 6 years ago | |

So, at least according to TFA, the original coroner's report was perhaps hasty, and there's some evidence that contradicts it, including there being no physical evidence of an avalanche having occurred, and the tracks appeared to be those of an orderly evacuation and not a panic.

The new, apparently preferred, official theory that the article outlines seems even less extraordinary than the avalanche one: Tent in a stupid spot disturbs some snow and causes it to slide. Things then proceed along somewhat similar lines, but in a much more orderly manner, with the tragedy being exacerbated more by extreme weather than by extreme panic.

gm3dmo 6 years ago |

The 8th dyatlov pass headline on Hacker News. It's like Groundhog Day.

mindcrime 6 years ago | |

There are a handful of links (or closely related groups of links about a particular topic) that show up here over and over and over and over and over and over and over again... it's just the way things are. I guess some topics are just timeless.

Look how many stories have been posted about Amelia Earhart, for example:

https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu...

or D.B. Cooper

https://hn.algolia.com/?q=d.b.+cooper

gm3dmo 6 years ago | |

Maybe there should be a citation? I have a new evidence or an original thought to add to the Dyatlov Pass Incident wiki page.

gm3dmo 6 years ago | |

Days until Dyatlov Pass Incident mentioned on Hacker News?

dang 6 years ago |

A thread from 2016: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11828346

jandrese 6 years ago |

This is one of those mysteries where the sensational story covered up fairly mundane facts.

https://www.cracked.com/article_16671_6-famous-unsolved-myst...

avl999 6 years ago |

They also made a movie out of it https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_dyatlov_pass_incident used to be on Netflix, not sure if it still is. It wasn't bad.

read_if_gay_ 6 years ago | |

There's a game named Kholat too. I liked the atmosphere but didn't end up playing much, got kinda bored. It's a puzzle horror game.

sandworm101 6 years ago |

Terminal burial. Paradoxical undressing. People do strange things when they get cold. In winter mountains, it is not unusual to find bodies in unusual situations. People abandon warm tents, walk barefoot, and make stupid route decisions.

curious_fella1 6 years ago | |

I think these death notes sum up the most interesting parts of the debacle.

Hypothermia; leader of group

Hypothermia

Internal bleeding from severe chest trauma

Hypothermia

Fatal skull injury

Severe chest trauma, eyes missing

chewz 6 years ago | | |

https://dyatlovpass.com/death

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