The reason for the death of tourists on the Dyatlov Pass in the Northern Urals in 1959 was an avalanche, as well as the fact that people, due to poor visibility, could not return to the tent they left. This conclusion was reached by employees of the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation.

Andrei Kuryakov, Deputy Head of the Office of the Prosecutor General in the Urals Federal District, spoke in detail about this.

“The version of the avalanche has been fully confirmed, but not only it is the cause of death,” he said during a press conference organized by Komsomolskaya Pravda.

He explained that after the avalanche was gone, the Dyatlov group left the tent through the openings in it and left 50 meters from the tent to the stone ridge - the natural limiter of the avalanche.

“They did everything right ... But here is the second reason why the group was sentenced. When they turned around, they did not see the tent. Visibility was 16 meters. They walked 50 meters, ”RIA Novosti quoted a prosecutor.

According to him, the tourists went down further and lit a fire, and then tried to return and find a tent, but they froze because the temperature reached around -40 ...- 45 ° C.

Employees of the department conducted an experiment, which confirmed that it is impossible to find a tent with closed eyes, even if a person knows what direction it is approximately.

“It was a heroic fight. There was no panic. But they did not have a chance to escape in these circumstances, ”said Kuryanov.

He also specified that all bodily injuries in the group are characteristic of a person who has fallen into an avalanche. According to a representative of the Prosecutor General, in 1959 there was no research to determine such information. They were conducted and the results were summarized in the 70-80s, then specialists gave a comparative description of each injury, Kuryanov noted.

  • © Photo from the materials of the Dyatlov group case / dyatlovpass.com

Using an example of a tennis ball, he explained why one of the victims of the events of 1959 had broken ribs.

“If we take the ball and create a belt load, then the break will not be at the point of application of force, but from the back. Accordingly, if from above, from all sides, snow pressed - three to four meters of snow, this is about half a ton, then bodily injuries should be from the back. Here they were on the reverse side of everyone, ”said Kuryanov, adding that it was a question of causing injuries by the pressure of the flowing force.

As an employee of the Prosecutor General’s Office said, the audit has been completed, and measures have been taken based on the findings. “Formally, this is the final. The question is closed, ”summed up Kuryanov.

The death of the Dyatlov group

Recall that a group of nine tourists, led by Igor Dyatlov, died in February 1959 while skiing in the Northern Urals.

So, on February 1, tourists climbed the slope of Mount Holatchakhl and stopped for the night at the pass, which now bears the name of Dyatlov. According to the original plan, on February 12 the group was supposed to complete the passage of the route, and on the 15th to return to Sverdlovsk.

Since this did not happen, relatives, friends and the leadership of the sports club were worried. Soon, a search and rescue operation began, in which tourists, climbers, military, police officers and local hunters took part. On February 23, rescuers managed to get on the trail of the group, and after two or three days the last parking was discovered.

In the tent found and near it there were skis, warm clothes and food supplies. On February 26 or 27, search engines discovered the first bodies of dead tourists, but the group was completely found only after the snow melted in May.

Immediately after the discovery of the first bodies, a number of strange details were revealed. Several dead tourists were easily dressed. Some did not have shoes. Several participants in the campaign after death were stripped by comrades who were still alive. There were no clear signs of violent death, but some of the victims had fractures and other bodily injuries.

  • © Photo from the materials of the Dyatlov group case / dyatlovpass.com

The investigation into the death of tourists began already on February 26, but it was not possible to establish what actually happened to the group. In May, the criminal case was closed “due to the lack of corpus delicti”.

According to experts, the death of tourists occurred on the night of February 1 to 2. For vague reasons, all the members of the group simultaneously left the tent, but the reasons for this step could not be established. Based on the autopsy results, some tourists froze, the rest died as a result of serious injuries. At that time, no one could answer the question why the group did not return to the tent for clothes and food.

In subsequent years, the death of the Dyatlov group attracted the attention of many enthusiastic researchers who put forward dozens of versions. Among the explanations of the tragedy that were proposed in different years, both natural causes were discussed, in particular, strong winds or avalanches, and criminal reasons (attack by runaway prisoners, Mansi people and a quarrel between tourists), as well as paranormal and mystical ones related to the impact of UFOs and otherworldly forces.

Prosecutor General's check

In 2019, almost 60 years after the tragedy, the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation began a new audit of the circumstances of the death of a group of tourists in 1959. The decision was then explained in the department, in particular, by the requests of the relatives of the victims.

“Why, after 60 years, the prosecutor’s office took up this matter? Because relatives and social activists are asking to establish the truth, ”said the official representative of the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office Alexander Kurennoy.

He clarified that by that time there were 75 versions of the tragedy, but during the audit, the agency considered only three of them as the most likely. All of them are associated with natural phenomena - a snowboard, an avalanche and a hurricane. Kurennoy emphasized that crime in the death of the Dyatlov group was completely ruled out.

We add that in September 2019, the Ruptly video agency launched an interactive project about the expedition of Igor Dyatlov. The camera crew of the agency went along their route, filming all the way to the camera and exploring the place of the tragedy in great detail.