The 3 year lockdown of the area

[sarapuk]

Something not mentioned much is the fact that the area was put on lockdown for 3 years after the tragedy. This must form part of any investigation and all theories must take this into account. What happened that was so bad that the area had to be put out of bounds for 3 years  !  ? 

[Morski]

Something not mentioned much is the fact that the area was put on lockdown for 3 years after the tragedy. This must form part of any investigation and all theories must take this into account. What happened that was so bad that the area had to be put out of bounds for 3 years  !  ?

Mr. Vladimir (WAB) said, that this "lockdown" as well as the "25 years of non-disclosure" are parts of a widespread myth.
He himself interrogated many of the search teams members (such as Bartolomey, Karelin, Brusnitsin, Slobtsov, Sharavin, Mohov, Askinadzi, Koptelov), as well as Yury Yudin. Non of them mentioned anything about that.
The "lockdown" was in regard to forbid to officially direct hikers. As far as I got it, It means, that you cant go there in order to obtain higher sports degree and have official documents for it (what the Dyatlov group was trying). Anyone who wanted to go to the area was free to do it, just without the official registration. From March till September 1959 there were groups who went on a hike.
As WAB said, you cant just "close" a wilderness area with the size of Belgium for years.

[sarapuk]

Is there any specific information on groups of hikers or individuals going to that area, including photos etc, between 1959 and 1962  ! ?

[sarapuk]

Apparently the Dyatlov mystery was fairly big news in the USSR at that time , so I would have thought that there would be plenty of interest shown in any groups or individuals who ventured out to that area in the year or so after the big event  ! ? 

[CalzagheChick]

But you can't think of this incident in the same terms as your current governing body. Freedoms that you yourself enjoy aren't necessarily the same standard of living afforded to the Socialist Republic. And the USSR had been in a chokehold--ruled with an iron fist (Iron Curtain?). Think--Stalin had been in the grave only 3 years at this point. He struck fear into the hearts of generations of people and although Kruschev allowed for that tight leash to be a bit more lax this was still during the Cold War where US/Russian relations were at the height of intolerance for one another so National Security was at its height and the safety of the government was worth more than the sum of its parts, for example the Ukranian famine inflicted by Stalin and only 1 of 2 famines that Semyon Zolotaryov would survive--Holodomor. Materials from the criminal case No. 475 heard in the Kyiv Court of Appeal found Stalin and others guilty of genocide. The case material contained hundreds of pieces of testimony of witnesses of forced collectivization, the requisitioning of food, cannibalism and executions by NKVD officers. Individual rights? What? I like the think that individuals had one "right" in the USSR: the right to work. But I'm almost positive it was propagated as a privilege more than a right. The government was invasive as all get out in order to determine the weak links and deal with them accordingly, I mean they knew how many dumps any citizen took on any given day.

Look all I'm saying is I'm not going to pretend to be an expert on Russian politics and culture. I obviously am not a Russian and have no concept of the hard life they lived before recently. But the more I learn the more I know that I wouldn't put too much hope into recovering photos from the area after the tragedy....

[sarapuk]

Well life in the USSR was certainly interesting. My Russian friend from Yekaterinburg tells me of his business partner whose family were managers of a building company during the USSR period. After the collapse of the USSR those managers found themselves becoming owners. The point is that despite all the bad press that Stalin gets even today, life went on there much as it did any where else in the World. People are people wherever and whatever circumstances they live under. The Dyatlov Group were a group of happy young students who could have been from any country in the World. After the tragedy that befell them news would have spread. So if indeed more expeditions by Groups or individuals took place soon after then surely there would be plenty of news on that  ! ? 

[Игорь Б.]

The myth of lockdown of the incident area:
http://1723.ru/forums/index.php?s=&showtopic=5133&view=findpost&p=66334

P.S. Read the answers to all the questions related to the death of Dyatlov's group:
http://1723.ru/forums/index.php?s=&showtopic=5133&view=findpost&p=78936

[sarapuk]

Well this is interesting. The link to the site that contains a photograph of some people said to be Mansi and Students and dated 12 - 07 - 1959, and also that it was a group from The Leningrad Pedagogical Institute led by a Team Leader named Zablatsky Yuri.  One BIG PROBLEM WITH THIS ; The route from Yekaterinburg to Krasnovishersk via Vishay goes no where near The Dyatlov Pass. In fact The Dyatlov Pass is about 250 Kilometres  [ 150 miles ]  away from Krasnovishersk.   

[Игорь Б.]

Bakhtiyarov Yurt is 50 km from Dyatlov pass:
https://goo.gl/maps/CuJw9xPmt842

Students who participated in the search could go anywhere:
"Видимо, по рации это же указание получил и Ортюков. Он первые дни нас безжалостно гонял вокруг лагеря кругами, радиусом 5-6 километров, и мы добросовестно это исполняли. Я могу сказать, что я был на Отортене, сам того не желая."
http://samlib.ru/p/piskarewa_m_l/askinadzi2.shtml

[sarapuk]

Its still along way from the yurt to the pass, 50 Kilometres [ 30 miles ]. The fact is they never went anywhere near the Dyatlov Pass.

[sarapuk]

http://dyatlov.looo.ch/en/p/tovarishch-kirilenko


One of the political bigwigs to report on the investigation directly to Khrushchev was the first secretary of the Sverdlovsk Regional Party, Andrei Pavlovich Kirilenko. In the future, he would become a member of the Politburo and secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party. In the 1950’s, Kirilenko had been in charge of the Dnepropetrovsk and the Sverdlovsk regions, two of the main forges for the Cold War.

Following the discovery of the second group of four, Kirilenko called in the investigator, Korotayev, to the Regional Committee and clearly explained to him that Khrushchev was informed that the tourists died of hypothermia. The case needs to be closed.

Korotayev was suddenly removed from the investigation after this visit. In twenty days, on May 28, 1959, Lev Ivanov ordered the dismissal of the case and shortly was promoted to the Prosecutor of the Kustanai region. The investigation was wrapped up with a casuistic wording:

“The cause of the deaths of the tourists was an elemental force that they were in no state to overcome.”

All those present at the pass during the search signed a non-disclosure of information for 25 years form. The area of Kholat-Syakhyl and Otorten was roped off from the public for 3 years.

[Beluga1303]

1959 Soviet Union! Can you imagine? Radioactivity was detected when the group was found. Although this was not an area for any military use. It sounds logical to me that the military would temporarily cordon off this area in order to conduct internal investigations.

2. theory
If it really was a missile launch accident, then it is also logical that the area is cordoned off until the tracks are removed.
For me, however, the first theory comes into question. The Soviet Union was afraid. Radioactivity in an area in which, under the circumstances at that time, there should be no radioactivity.

[sarapuk]

1959 Soviet Union! Can you imagine? Radioactivity was detected when the group was found. Although this was not an area for any military use. It sounds logical to me that the military would temporarily cordon off this area in order to conduct internal investigations.

2. theory
If it really was a missile launch accident, then it is also logical that the area is cordoned off until the tracks are removed.
For me, however, the first theory comes into question. The Soviet Union was afraid. Radioactivity in an area in which, under the circumstances at that time, there should be no radioactivity.

Radiation Geiger Counter went off the scale apparently when they were searching for the Dyatlov Group. Then when the final bodies were found Radiation appears to have been detected on clothing. There is not a lot to go on as far as Radiation is concerned. The amount detected doesnt appear to have warranted the 3 year Lockdown.