Zinc coffins

[GlennM]

We understand from the case files that without zinc coffins, the deceased were not going to be flown out. I investigated a bit further and came to understand that zinc as a material is effective in delaying decay of a cadaver and it allows a typically wooden coffin to be hermetically sealed.
The record shows that the deceased were frozen solid and sewed into tarpaulins for aerial transport. They were later to be thawed and forensically examined.

It occurs to me that sealing a body in a zinc coffin only to open it up again might ruin the integrity of the coffin. Secondly, the zinc coffin was not specifically required for any suspected radiation contamination. Third. a zinc coffin is used for people of some importance.

From this I conclude that there could be no surreptitious pre-flight re-dressing hard frozen corpses. Secondly, they were frozen and sewed so there was no real concern of a communicable disease escaping. Third, the DP9 were considered worth the expense and effort to be transported in something better than a utilitarian wooden casket, even though obtaining them was an inconvenience and a government expense.

I do not support the idea that using a zinc casket was a ploy to hide evidence of assassin's work. Far to many rescuers saw what they say, carried what they carried, and talked as they wished.

The DP9 (not 10 or 11) died by natural causes and moved in a military fashion which owing to the zinc caskets was not particularly expedient..

[Axelrod]

I think there were no zinc coffins. There were simple wooden coffins. Zoltarev's exhumation confirmed this.
Komsomolskaya Pravda correspondents arrived at the cemetery with a hacksaw for metal, but no metal was found in the grave.

[KathleenDSmith1]

Everyone and Teddy :

I found it .... copy and paste:  https://dyatlovpass.com/the-den


This is a scandal! I and fourteen other people brought these bodies on our shoulders and they refused to take the bodies in spite of me insisting. As a Communist I am outraged by the behavior of the crew and ask you to inform the Communist Party leader about it. And I have to mention to you for clarity, these bodies are frozen.

We packed them for transportation and there was no reason to refuse to take them. The medical expert refused to examine or to cut the bodies here on site. It is absolutely not dangerous from the point of hygiene. They are folded and covered in special impervious material. The crew said they would not transport them until they are in Zinc coffins.

At this point Colonel Ortyukov reached the limits of his desperation. He took out his pistol and threatened the crew. Vladimir Askinadzi intervened, after which the medical expert reorganized how the bodies should be packed for transportation, and they were finally airlifted for transportation to Ivdel.


Thanks
Kathleen D. Smith

[GlennM]

My point is that because the ravine 4 bodies were witnessed by no less than 14 people and frozen solid, there was no way the remains could be tampered with as they were transported off 1079. When they were examined later, they bore the physical marks of exposure and injuries. The idea of infighting is always brought up,  but when considering the proximities and postures of the deceased plus what they were wearing, for me it points to cooperation, not alienation. Murder? It would have been sloppy and ineffectual. A blast? There was none. On the other hand, they had knives and matches. But against snow, wind and cold and a likely snow cave collapse in the ravine, they were insufficient.

The helicopter pilot seems to be a " by the book" type of person. It is safe, if not a bit bloodless. We know there was pressure to wind up the case and be done with it. I do not think this was to cover up misdeeds, rather it was because of the amount of time passed between finding the first and last hiker. The pressure to conclude activities is likely more about cold weather, mourning families and getting back to work. Soviet national politics, not so much.