Three people died at a music festival

On Saturday, heavy winds and thunderstorms caused the death of three guests of the art song festival in the Chelyabinsk region: a woman was killed by lightning, two children died under fallen pine trees. After the hurricane, the festival, which attracted about 12 thousand people, was stopped, and most of the participants were evacuated. The Investigative Department of the Investigative Committee for the Chelyabinsk Region is establishing all the circumstances of the incident.

The annual Ilmen festival was held in the Miass urban district at the site of the Ilmenskaya Baza recreation center and attracted approximately 12 thousand people. “At about 5 p.m. local time, a thunderstorm front covered the festival area. The storm struck suddenly and lasted only seven minutes. The gusts of wind were so strong that trees began to fall directly on the tent camp,” said the festival organizers, members of the singer Oleg Mityaev’s foundation. The wind knocked down ten pine trees. First, 50-year-old Zlatoust resident Svetlana Zhukova died - she was struck by lightning. And two children from Chelyabinsk, seven-year-old Natalya Chernova and ten-year-old Alexander Zakharov, died under the fallen trees, the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia for the Chelyabinsk Region clarified. Trees also fell on abandoned cars and tents, ten more people were injured, four of them were taken to Miass hospital N2.

“The children’s tent camp was evacuated by the festival organizers within an hour after the incident. Non-resident children were placed in brick buildings on the territory of a nearby tourist center, and local children were taken from the territory by bus,” said Oleg Mityaev’s foundation. Rescuers and doctors were sent to the scene - a total of 265 people and 32 pieces of equipment were involved. Immediately after the hurricane subsided, employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations and the city search and rescue team of the regional rescue service examined the site of the fallen trees and walked around the tent camp. “For the evacuation of citizens, personal vehicles and buses of the Miass transport enterprise were used. EMERCOM psychologists worked at the scene of the incident to provide psychological assistance to the victims and their relatives,” explained the press service of the Chelyabinsk Department of the Ministry of Emergency Situations.

Acting Governor of the Chelyabinsk Region Boris Dubrovsky ordered the creation of a special commission to study the circumstances of the incident. “Mr. Dubrovsky ordered assistance to the relatives of the victims and the injured,” the government press service reported.

The Investigative Department of the Investigative Committee for the Chelyabinsk Region is establishing all the circumstances of the incident. “Based on the results of the inspection, a procedural decision will be made,” the department’s press service says.

The press service of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Emergency Situations for the Chelyabinsk Region emphasized that the forecast about the upcoming deterioration of the weather was communicated to the population in advance. For security, the forces and means of the territorial subsystem of the Unified State System for the Prevention and Elimination of Emergency Situations were on duty around the clock on the territory of the tent camp, the department emphasized.

Maria Polous, Ekaterinburg

The hurricane interrupted the author's song