Rescue gas blamed for Russian siege deaths

The failure to provide rapid medical care to hostages after security forces ended the Chechen rebel seizure of a Moscow theatre in 2002 caused most of the deaths, a senior Russian MP said today.

“We paid a high price at Dubrovka (theatre), losing lots of people,” said Vladimir Vasilyev, who chairs the State Duma’s Security Committee.

Authorities had long sought to put all the blame for the deaths on the Chechen rebels who seized 800 hostages in the theatre.

They downplayed the impact from the gas used to knock out the hostage-takers and the lack of immediate medical care. Most of the 129 hostages who died succumbed to the gas.

Officials at the time insisted that doctors were prepared and waiting, and they said the weakened state of the hostages made them extra-sensitive to the opiate gas.

“The shame was that the operation was carried out well, but it is already understood that the reason (for the deaths) was the untimely rendering of medical help,” Vasilyev said today.

Tatyana Karpova, who lost her son in the siege and now heads an association of the attack’s survivors and victims’ relatives, has long faulted authorities for failing to provide prompt medical assistance to the victims.

She said her son was left lying on the steps of the theatre for hours waiting for medical attention.