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In Karelia, four suspects of Syamozero tragedy detained

The Karelia Office of the Investigative Committee continues an investigation into death of children after a boat capsized on Lake Syamozero, Pryazha District, Karelia (Part 3 of Article 238 of the RF Penal Code).

As of now investigators have finished examining 14 dead bodies and have identified all of them as the children aged between 12 and 14 years who attended the camp. There are no adults among the dead. This confirms once more that nobody of the instructors accompanying the children made any necessary efforts to save the children, but was only busy with saving their own lives.

So far there are four suspects in detention: director of OOO Park-hotel Syamozero Yelena Reshetova, her deputy Vadim Vinogradov, instructors Regina Ivanova and Lyudmila Vasilyeva. They are being questioned now and a restraint is expected soon. It is quite clear now for the investigators that the instructors who accompanied the children on the trip were by all means responsible for their safety. The children’s faith depended entirely on their actions. Reshetova and Vinogradov were in charge of organization of the holiday, this is why they were among the first ones detained. By the way, on Friday (17 June) the Russian Ministry for Emergency Situations had issued a storm warning stating that there would be heavy rains, storms and wind gusting up to 17-20 m/s in most districts of Karelia. During the probe we are going to see if the instructors and their supervisors had this information and why  they hadn’t check the wind speed and other weather conditions before going on the trip.

At the same time the investigators are now working to find out all the details of the tragedy. We recommend all those involved in organization of the trip to report themselves immediately. If some of the organizers of the holiday think that they will manage to skirt the investigation, they cannot be more wrong. All those involved in the death of the children will be identified and brought to justice.

By the way the safety issues in that camp has been investigated into before. In 2011, the drunk deputy director of the camp beat a cam’s security guard to death right on the premises of the facility. At the moment he is serving a 13-year time in prison.

Head of Media Relations                                                                                                      V.I. Markin