Monday, 29 October 2007
>> its the time of the week>> add a knowledge ppl~
ok auntie zee is here to share an important event that happened in Russia in 2002, which is the Moscow theater hostage crisis or 2002 Nord-Ost siege as found in wiki.watched one of may favourite prog on Nat Geo ytd, Situation Critical, and they talked about this siege which was started by the rebel militants from the separatist movement in Chechnya. They seized a crowded theater in Moscow on 23 Oct 2002, with 850 hostages inside. They threatened to blow up the whole theatre if the authorities refused to give in to their request of withdrawing forces in Chechnya and end to the second Chechen war.thus they waited and waited in the theatre with all the hostages, but the rebels had released the muslims and young children to show their sincerity in ending everything in peace. however the sad thing was the russian president took a tough stance against them ans refused to negotiate with them at all and demanded the release of all hostage. the most troubled person of all was the person who was put in charged to end the siege (which i cant rmb wat rank he was). he had absolutely nothing to negotiate and exchange with the terrorists and as time went by min, the terrorists became increasing frustrated that they were getting nothing. the person in charge was also pressured to end everything.as the terrorists took down video of the whole process of the siege, hence we could see wat was happening right inside. for example, the hostages were not allowed to go toilet as the terrorists wanted to make sure they were always within sight, hence they used the stage as a toilet. ppl lined up to relieve themselves and the survivors said the theatre was extremely smelly.eventually the authorities decided to use a mysterious anaestetic gas on everyone in the theatre, hoping that the terrorists will faint and hence they could control the situation by force. the gas was released into the theatre through the ventilation and within 30 min it was starting to take effect. after abt 1 hr the govt charged into the theatre and had a round of gunfire with those who were still awake.however the saddest part of the siege was that in trying to gas the terrorists, the mysterious gas also poisoned another 129 ppl to death. this was because the gas was not spread evenly and those inhaled large amt toxic gas would die of its effects. and they showed the soldiers trying to carry out the unconscious ppl out of the theatre. they just anyhow dumped the people on the floor as if they were all dead and as the hospitals were not prepared at all, they couldnt save the ppl in time. worst still, the govt REFUSED to tell the doctors wat was the composition of the gas, and thus they didnt know how to go abt saving the victims. even though they had prepare antidote for the poison, it didnt help in saving the victims.Here's abt the rescue actions from wiki>>>At 7:00 a.m., rescuers began carrying the bodies of hostages out of the building. Bodies were laid in rows on the pavement at the main entrance to the TC, unprotected from falling rain and snow. Shortly, the entire space was filled with bodies of the dead and those unconscious from the gas but still alive. Few ambulances were standing by, and those that were had to wait ten minutes or more until they were given permission to pass through the security cordon. The bodies of dead hostages were stowed in two buses, which were parked at the TC. Nevertheless, initial reports said nothing about casualties among the hostages. HQ representatives went to the college hall, where relatives of the hostages had been waiting, and told them "there are no victims among the hostages". Deputy Internal Affairs Minister Vladimir Vasilyev falsely announced that special forces had been forced to start the assault because a group of hostages had attempted to escape.
The first official report of fatalities among the hostages came at about 9:00 am. Despite the death of five children which had been already reported by medical personnel, the official statement claimed there were no children among the dead. Authorities said nothing about the use of chemical agents in the raid.
At 1:00 p.m., Vasilyev reported at a press conference that 67 people had died, but again did not mention the deaths of any children. He claimed he only had the authority to state that special chemical agents had been used and that some 30 of the "bandits" and "their accomplices" had been captured alive in the area around the theater and in other parts of the city. Later, the government stated that all the terrorists had been killed, including one unconscious woman who was executed outside the theatre by a woman in an FSB uniform.
Armed guards were posted at the hospitals where victims were taken, and doctors were ordered not to release any of the theatre patients in case terrorists had concealed themselves among the hostages. The survivors were cut off from any communication with the outside world and their relatives were not allowed inside the hospitals. The hostages' family members panicked as the government refused to release any information about which hospitals their loved ones had been taken to, or even whether their relatives were among the dead. The federal media published an incorrect list of hospitals which had allegedly admitted the former hostages.
as mentioned by the prog, many were actually not only poisoned to death, but instead crushed to death when they were stacked on top of each other, others were choked to death by their own tongue cos they were put down to lie on their back and not the side. the president told the ppl on TV even though they couldnt save all hostages, but they had ensured that they bombs that would have killed everyone for sure to go off.i think the incident was signifcant not cos of the terrorists itself, but rather the victims and the authorities' poor efforts to help the victims. if the rescue efforts were better maybe less ppl would have died from the effects of the gas.here's the actual link.
8:29:00 pm;
