The gorge in which Bodrov died. Tragedy in the Karmadon Gorge

The mysterious circumstances of the tragedy force scientists today to put forward new versions of the reasons for what happened.

Faktrum tells what is known from the facts today.

In the fall of 2002, Sergei Bodrov worked on the film “The Messenger,” in which he acted as a director, screenwriter and actor. On September 18, the film crew arrived in Vladikavkaz. Filming was planned for September 20 in the Karmadon Gorge - only one scene of the film was filmed there. Due to transport delays, the start of filming was moved from 9:00 to 13:00, which cost the lives of all participants. The work had to be completed around 19:00 due to poor light. The group collected equipment and prepared to return to the city.

At 20:15 local time, a giant mass of ice fell from the spur of Mount Kazbek. In 20 minutes, the Karmadon Gorge was covered with a 300-meter layer of stones, mud and ice. No one managed to escape - the mudflows moved at a speed of at least 200 km per hour, covering entire villages, recreation centers and tourist camps over a distance of 12 km. More than 150 people were trapped under the rubble, 127 of them are still considered missing.

The road was blocked, and rescuers were able to reach the gorge only after several hours. All the residents of the surrounding villages also came to help. As a result of a 3-month rescue operation, only... 19 bodies were discovered. Over the next two years, volunteers continued the search. Right on the glacier they set up a camp called “Nadezhda”, searching every day. According to their version, the film crew could get to the car tunnel and take shelter from the avalanche there. However, no traces of people were found in the tunnel. The search was stopped in 2004.

There are many mystical coincidences in this story. According to S. Bodrov’s script, only two of the main characters remained alive by the end of the film “The Messenger” - surprisingly, the performers of these roles actually returned home unharmed. According to the script, Bodrov’s hero was supposed to die. Filming in Karmadon was originally scheduled for August, but this month Bodrov’s second child was born, which is why everything was postponed to September. In Vladikavkaz, Bodrov lived in the same hotel with another film crew: in a nearby gorge, director Ya. Lapshin was filming a film about the collapse of a glacier that destroyed local settlements. The plot of the picture became prophetic.

Kolka is a so-called pulsating glacier that falls down about once every hundred years. It was known for sure that he had to go down, but it was not possible to foresee the time of the catastrophe. Although seismic stations recorded unusual activity a few days before the disaster - presumably hanging glaciers from neighboring peaks were falling onto Kolka. But this data was not processed and taken into account.

Today scientists say that The collapse of the glacier could not be provoked by ice growths collapsing from above. Photos were published indicating that in early September there were no hanging glaciers above Kolka. L. Desinov is sure: the nature of the glacier release is gas-chemical. The collapse was caused by fluid gas flows coming out of the mouth of the Kazbek volcano. Warm jets of gas pushed the glacier out of its bed like a cork from a bottle of champagne.

Scientists are also confident that the collapse of the glacier was not only not accidental, but could also indicate more dangerous and large-scale processes occurring in the layers of the lithosphere. There is a version that the reason for the sharp revival of Kolka was several faults in the ground that converged at one point. Magma approached the bottom of the glacier, and 200 tons of ice were forced out of its bed. This could be a warning signal of future earthquakes due to faults.

On September 20, 2002 at 20:15 local time in North Ossetia, in the gorge of the Genaldon River, a terrible tragedy occurred: the Kolka glacier, which descended from the peaks, completely destroyed dozens of towns, villages, recreation centers, and tent tourist camps. For 12 km, the ground turned into a mixture of ice, mud and boulders.

On this day in 2002, as a result of a glacier collapse in the Karmadon Gorge, Sergei Bodrov and the film crew of the film “Svyaznoy” died. #Remember pic.twitter.com/ivYCqfLfPd

— Alexander Zakuskin (@azakuskin) September 20, 2016

Like a bomb went off

According to experts, a giant block of ice fell from the slope of Mount Dzhimara, 4,780 meters high, and fell onto the Kolka glacier. The power of this blow was comparable to the explosion of a very serious bomb. The ice mass, along with cobblestones and mud, moved at a speed of more than 200 km per hour, covering the Karmadon Gorge with a three-hundred-meter layer of stones and ice.

It was at this time that he was known throughout the country for the films “Brother” and “Prisoner of the Caucasus” Sergey Bodrov(at that time he was called junior, so as not to be confused with his father, also a director Sergei Bodrov) together with his film crew began work on his second film “The Messenger”. Sergei was both a director, a screenwriter, and an actor playing the main role. On September 18, the filmmakers arrived in Vladikavkaz. On September 20, it was planned to film one of the scenes in the Karmadon Gorge.

There is also a fatal coincidence of circumstances in this story: filming was supposed to start at 9 am, but problems arose with transport, and the filming process was delayed. Around seven in the evening, Bodrov gave the order to continue filming tomorrow, because there was not enough natural light to work on the scene. The film crew began collecting equipment. An hour later tragedy struck.

Been looking for 2 years

The roads were blocked, and rescuers could not reach the scene of the tragedy for several hours. As a result, when the brigades, together with the residents of the surviving villages, tried to get to Bodrov’s group, they could not find anyone: mudflows 300 meters high blocked the gorge. Even with the help of drills it was not possible to penetrate deeper than 100 meters. The rescue operation lasted 3 months. Through incredible efforts, rescuers managed to find only 19 dead. Then the work was curtailed: it became dangerous for rescuers. But volunteers did not give up, continuing the search for 2 years. Camp “Nadezhda” was even set up. Actually, the hope was that the film crew managed to get to the road tunnel on the day of the tragedy and escape from the glacier there. Among the volunteers there were many fans of Bodrov: they wanted to at least bury their idol in a humane manner. Residents of the surrounding villages tried very hard to help them: according to Ossetian belief, a person is considered cursed if he is not buried. But when the volunteers reached the tunnel, not a single body was there. As a result, work to search for the remains of Bodrov’s group was stopped in 2004: 2 years after the tragedy.

The terrible story that happened to the participants of the film expedition repeats what was written by Sergei Bodrov in the script of the film “The Messenger”. At the end of the film, only two heroes were supposed to survive. Moreover, it coincided that it was the actors who played these characters who returned to Moscow safe and sound. But the hero of Sergei Bodrov dies in Svyaznoy.

The postponement of filming a month later can also be considered a tragic coincidence: the scene in the Karmadon Gorge was supposed to be filmed in August 2002, but the actor’s wife gave birth to a second child, and Bodrov, wanting to be with his family, postponed filming to September. And third: the film crew of Bodrov Jr. settled in the same hotel with other filmmakers who came to work in Vladikavkaz.

Director Yaropolk Lapshin In a nearby gorge, he was filming a disaster film about a glacier collapse that buried hundreds of people. The film was released under the title “Sel”, its original title was “Hello, brother!”

The North Caucasus is famous for its beautiful natural landscapes, majestic mountains, turquoise rivers, and clean air. One of these places was the Karmadon Gorge in North Ossetia.

The Karmadon Gorge is a unique natural monument, the most beautiful corner of North Ossetia (Alania) and a favorite vacation spot for both local residents and tourists from all over Russia and even from abroad. People sought to get here to admire the unique mountain landscapes, enjoy the smell of alpine herbs, and visit the famous Karmadon springs. Without much difficulty it was possible to walk along the moraines to the tongue of the Maili glacier and examine the grotto from which Genaldon originates.

Things don't look right now...

It’s scary and creepy to be in the gorge: long, skinned, dark tunnels, river banks cut off like a razor, and huge dumps of soil.

The Genaldon River (Terek basin) of the Greater Caucasus mountain system flows through the gorge. The Kolka glacier is located in the gorge. The gorge is located at altitudes from 750 to 1200 m above sea level.

On September 20, 2002, the Kolka glacier, five kilometers long, 10 to 100 meters thick and 200 meters wide, with a volume of 21 million cubic meters, descended along the bed of the Genaldon River downstream. A mass of snow, ice and stones moved through the gorge at a speed of over 100 km/h.

When the ice mass moved, a mudflow was formed with a length of 11 kilometers, a thickness of 5-10 and a width of about 50 meters, with a volume of 10-12 million cubic meters. The mudflow stopped about seven kilometers south of the village of Gizel. As a result of the natural disaster, the three-story non-residential building of the Karmadon sanatorium, the recreation center of the North Ossetian State University, the recreation center of the Republican Ministry of Justice, 1.5-kilometer-long power lines, the sanatorium’s treatment facilities, and water intake wells were completely destroyed. In the village of Karmadon, the glacial mass covered up to 15 houses. The glacier's collapse caused a flash flood on the Gizeldon River.

The group of Sergei Bodrov Jr., who was filming the film “The Messenger,” worked in the Karmadon Gorge.

According to the conclusion of the interdepartmental commission, it was virtually impossible to survive there. During the rescue efforts, 17 bodies were found. More than 150 people are listed as missing.
Search and rescue operations in the Karmadon Gorge lasted more than a year. According to experts, under a hundred-meter thickness of ice it was impossible to find any dead, much less alive. Meanwhile, for a year, relatives of the victims lived with the rescuers in Karmadon. Their last hope was a tunnel that covered the glacier, and in which people could possibly hide.
Despite the assurances of experts who claimed that this idea was doomed and that no one could survive in the tunnel, the relatives of the victims insisted that wells be drilled into the tunnel. Under the thin ice, rescuers spent a long time searching for the exact location of the former tunnel. They drilled 19 wells, and only the 20th attempt was successful. Divers descended through a 69-meter well into the tunnel. However, as experts assured, the tunnel turned out to be empty. After this, most of the relatives of the victims, who fought to the last for their relatives, were forced to admit their death.

On May 7, 2004, a decision was made to stop the search.
On May 7, 2015, I decided to visit this tragic place, the “Gorge of Death” and take photographs: What is the Karmadon Gorge like and what traces did the broken glacier leave after 13 years.

Photos do not need comments. For those interested, just take a look: KARMADON.

The devastating consequences of the collapse of the Kolka glacier. Ossetia, 2002. (Photo by the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations)

May 7, 2015. The village of Gorny Saniba, from where I began photographing along the route indicated on the map. The photographs are arranged in chronological order, as we move down the gorge, along the bed of the Genaldon River.

Karmadon is a famous balneological resort, which was famous for its thermal mineral radon waters.

At the burial site of a mass of ice, water, mud and stones, it is possible that people were buried, there were rubble of stones, several tens and hundreds of meters high, where bushes were already growing.

In a matter of minutes, the village located here was demolished. Now in its place is ice mixed with stones, up to 80 meters thick.

The banks of the river and rocks cut off like a razor

The same tunnels where drilling and search work had been going on for a whole year in the hope of finding people. All hopes were in vain.

On September 20, 2002, in the gorge of the Genaldon River (North Ossetia), a catastrophic collapse of the Kolka glacier occurred, which completely destroyed several villages and took the lives of more than 135 people, among whom was the film crew of Sergei Bodrov Jr. of 26 people who worked on the film "Messenger".

1. Sergei Bodrov Jr. (12/27/1971 - 09/20/2002).

Only in 2007, 5 years after the tragedy, the reason for the collapse of the Kolka glacier was named. The glacier collapse was the result of a gas release from the dormant Kazbek volcano..

Leading specialist of the North Caucasus Mining and Metallurgical Institute Mikhail Berger explained: “Under the layer of Kolka ice, volcanic gases coming from under the slopes of Kazbek accumulated for a long time. The mountain is considered an extinct volcano, but there is still enough heat beneath it to produce emissions of magmatic gases, and when their pressure became critical, an explosion occurred." The explosion caused the collapse of a hanging glacier on the slopes of Mount Dzhimara (4780 m), huge masses of ice collapsed on Kolka. The glacier was already in an unstable position - its bed had melted. As a result, most of the firn-ice body of the Kolka glacier slipped from the bed and, taking part of the Maili glacier with it, moved along the gorge into the valley at a speed of about 200 km/h, taking with it stones and mud masses.

2. Discharge of the Kolka glacier.

3. Mount Jimara, September 2012 (ten years later).

3. Base of the Kolka glacier.

4. Scheme of the collapse and movement of the glacier.

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7. View of the Kolka glacier, 2000.

8. Soon after the glacier disappeared.

This flow completely covered the Karmadon (Genaldon) gorge, destroying buildings, recreation centers, and power lines. As a result of the damming of the Genaldon River and its tributaries, several dammed lakes were formed.

Large-scale rescue and search efforts yielded no results. The official rescue operation of the Ministry of Emergency Situations was stopped two weeks after the disaster. However, the search for the missing people and the film crew of Bodrov Jr. continued for another year and a half, but without success.

In many ways, the large-scale disaster of 2002 came as a surprise to scientists and authorities. According to glaciologists, glacier movement was expected to occur around 2030. The epicenter of the greatest destruction of the Kolka glacier was about 33 km.

According to scientists, the condition of high-mountain glaciers in the North Caucasus has worsened. Due to climate warming, their boundaries have retreated upward, which has reduced the support area of ​​the ice masses. Snow accumulated at altitude significantly made the ice caps on the mountain tops heavier. In addition, the abundant melting of glaciers erodes and weakens fragmentary soils on the slopes, for this reason the ice masses have nothing to rest on.

The devastating consequences of the collapse of the Kolka glacier

9. Scheme of glacier movement along the Karmadon Gorge.

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He passed away at the height of his creative career. By the time of his death, he had already starred in several films and established himself as a talented film director and screenwriter. And, perhaps, it is symbolic that his death occurred during the filming of another film.

There were no signs of trouble

That fine September day in 2002 was an ordinary working day for Bodrov’s film crew. But Sergei, according to his widow Svetlana, was very sad. He talked to her on the phone longer than usual, as if he had a premonition of trouble.

At approximately 6-30 in the morning, Bodrov’s group in a minibus “Gazelle” left Vladikavkaz for the mountains to the filming site. At about eight in the evening, due to poor light, work was stopped. People began to collect equipment. At this very time, a huge ice block fell from a cliff on Mount Jafra and fell onto the Kolka glacier. And he began a rapid movement along the gorge, sweeping away everything in his path. This glacier completely covered the Karmadon Gorge, from where Bodrov’s group intended to leave just at that time.

Incredible versions of the tragedy

Almost immediately after the tragedy in the Karamadon Gorge, a huge number of the most incredible versions of what happened appeared.

The first to believe that members of Bodrov’s film crew were still alive were their loved ones and relatives. There was a very real rationale for this. Bodrov and his colleagues could well have taken refuge from the elements in a mountain tunnel that was located in the gorge. They had some provisions, but they had the opportunity to live under the landslide for some time. Another thing is that it took a year and a half to get to the rescue tunnel and the rescuers found nothing there except the remains of wild animals.

We are absolutely sure that the members of Bodrov’s group are alive to this day, as are the local mountaineer elders. According to their mystical legends, you can find entire inhabited ghost villages, in which live people who were taken by the mountains, for example, climbers who are considered dead.
Some believe that Bodrov’s death is closely connected with his character in the film “The Messenger”, which is in Karmadon. This hero dies at the end of the film and the death of the actor is associated with a mystical coincidence.

There is also a version that Bodrov was killed by the angry spirit of Genghis Khan himself. They say that the spirit of the great conqueror could not forgive Sergei’s father’s plan to make a film about the most powerful Mongol khan.

There are many more similar hypotheses. But for most mentally healthy people it is not possible to believe in them.