Amid
gunfire and explosions, groups of children and adults have been
seen escaping from the school in Beslan, in the Russian republic
of North Ossetia where they were being held hostage. A Russian
Red Cross team of 20 doctors is on the spot, and other Red Cross
teams are providing comfort and support to anxious relatives.
The first day of September is traditionally a day of celebration
for the people of Russia – the day children start the
new school year. But on 1st September 2004, the town of Beslan,
in the southern Russian republic of North Ossetia, was unwillingly
thrust into the international spotlight.
Around 9.30 am a group of masked men and women wearing bomb
belts, demanding the release of imprisoned Chechen fighters
and the withdrawal of Russian troops from Chechnya, burst into
a school and took hundreds of children, teachers and parents
hostage. Twelve people were killed in the first hours of the
siege. On Thursday, 26 women and young children were freed from
the school.
Some estimate as many as 1,500 people were in the building and
as many as 200 may have been injured, according to hospital
sources. They had been blocked in the school gym with mines
and trip wires installed around, with no access to food or water,
since the hostage takers had refused any assistance be delivered
to the hostages.
Hundreds of relatives of those being held inside the school
are waiting anxiously outside the security cordon
"We have mobilised Red Cross personnel, and informed the
media and the government about our contingency planning,"
said Erik Prazdnikov, Russian Red Cross (RRC) Secretary General.
Prazdnikov, who is in Beslan.
Shortly after the school was seized, the RRC set up an operational
group to coordinate the activities of the national headquarters
in Moscow, and the local branches in Vladikavkaz and in Beslan.
"The Red Cross branch in Beslan, headed by the chief doctor
of the central district hospital, Mr V. Karpenko, is directly
involved in providing assistance," said Raisa Lukutsova,
RRC vice president and head of the operational group. Some 20
Russian Red Cross doctors are on the spot, providing emergency
assistance to hostages.
A team of some 60 Red Cross psychologists, nurses and medical
doctors and volunteers are on stand-by to fly immediately to
Beslan and provide further assistance to the hostages and their
families.
A 24-hour phone line has also been established to give and receive
information about the crisis situation.
Two large surgical kits, bandage materials and medicines have
been transferred to the Beslan Central hospital from the International
Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) warehouse in the North Caucasus,
while the Russian Red Cross has asked the population to donate
blood at State blood donor points to assist victims of the current
hostage crisis, as well as yesterday's explosion outside a metro
station in Moscow, which killed 10 people.
The Russian Red Cross and ICRC Moscow Office are ready to offer
more bandages, medicines and surgical instruments and general
assistance if necessary.
"The Russian Red Cross was quick in its response to the
disaster in Ossetia," said Per Jensnaes, Head of the International
Federation’s delegation in Russia. "These efforts
are needed now and will be in big demand regardless of the outcome
of the tragic event.”
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A
Russian police officer carries a released baby from the
school seized by armed hostage-takers in the town of Beslan.
(REUTERS/Viktor Korotayev/courtesy AlertNet)
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Hundreds
of relatives are waiting near the school. (REUTERS/Eduard
Kornienko/courtesy AlertNet)
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Near
the school in Beslan, relatives of the hostages wait anxiously
for news. The Russian Red Cross is offering them comfort
and support (REUTERS/Vadim Tokhsyrov/ courtesy AlertNet)
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