‘Everyone in this town has lost someone’

THE killing of more than 320 children, parents and teachers during the bloody end to a 53-hour school siege left barely a family untouched in the small Russian town of Beslan.

Grief, anger and uncertainty mingled in the town after the bloodiest hostage crisis in decades ended on Friday with half-naked and wounded children dodging bullets as they fled and security forces stormed the school building.

“Everyone in this town has lost someone,” said Alan, looking for news of his sister who had been at the school. “What they say on television is a lie. There could be 600 dead.”

In the nearby city of Vladikavkaz, hundreds queued up outside the overwhelmed morgue for the gruesome task of identifying their relatives.

Dozens of stretchers lay outside with corpses on them, their skin the color of powdered milk. Most were children or women, naked bodies covered with black tarpaulin or plastic sheets.

Relatives accompanied by nurses picked their way past rows of stretchers, holding handkerchiefs or gauze masks to their faces against the stench.

At the main hospital in Vladikavkaz, one of several dealing with gunshot wounds and burns among victims, head doctor, Uruzmag Dzhanyev, said 250 children were being treated.

“Many children - even those who live - will be invalids. Some do not have eyes,” he said.

Anger among the relatives mounted over the silence from Moscow during the siege and President Vladimir Putin’s lightning visit early on Saturday under cover of darkness.

“Putin came here at four this morning,” said Boris, whose neighbour and all her family disappeared.

“He saw no one and talked to no one. He just wanted to show the world how young and handsome he is but he hasn’t helped and he won’t help and he can’t stop this happening again.”

“His visit was a publicity stunt,” said Zoya, missing her niece. “They should have done everything so that not even one child died. But they didn’t.”

Officials said they did not plan to storm the school, but had to when the rebels fired on fleeing children.

“My daughter escaped but my son, no one knows what happened to him. We have checked the hospitals, but we have no news,” said one woman. “The bodies must be so burned that we may never recognise them.”