SJ Desk
he actuality is more aberrant than a fable. I believe that we humans are merely an observer of shells on the bank of the great unascertained ocean of knowledge. No matter how as a species we boast about our scientific and technological accomplishments, we are just scratching the tip of the iceberg. There are a lot of conundrum phenomena and incidents that have left us baffled and speechless. Dyatlov Pass incident is one of such mysteries that have put us in quandary.
Where is Dyatlov Pass?
On February 1st, 1959, In Russia, Igor A. Dyatlov, a young man in his early 20’s assembled a group of 8 more students with ample hiking experience and went on a trekking trip to the Peak of Otorten Mountain never to return back alive. According to the details that were obtained from the journals and cameras of Igor and his teammates, while trekking in the northern Ural mountains, due to restricted visibility, they got averted from their course and instead of going towards the Otorten mountain, they entered the orbit of Kholat Syakhl which literally means Mountain of the dead and decided to set up a base there. This pass where they structured their camp was later named as Dyatlov pass after this appalling event.
The riddle of Dyatlov Pass
When the hikers didn’t return after a few weeks, an unceremonious team was formed by a local hiking league. They were able to spot the base camp of Dyatlov’s team but the hikers were nowhere to be seen. An official missing report was registered and a rescue team was commissioned by the administration to find the hikers. When the rescue team reached the spot, they were left scratching their head. They saw that the camp which had been set up by the hikers was torn from inside and many footprints of people sprinting outside barefoot or in a single shoe were stamped on the snow. More than a kilometer from the campsite, there was a sign of small campfire and 2 dead bodies next to it. In spite of the bone-chilling winter night (around -20 F) on that horrendous eve, two of the students in their early 20’s both named Yuri were found dead without shoes or clothing, only in their underpants. Not very far from there, the investigating team found 3 more bodies including the leader of the trekking group, Igor Dyatlov. Zinaida, Rustem, and Dyatlov, all 3 of them had died while trying to go back towards the campsite. After a thorough analysis, it was concluded that these 3 people died because of hypothermia, a condition in which the body loses heat rapidly than it produces. Regardless of the eccentric fashion of deaths, there was nothing that could not have been elucidated rationally till then.
The team further tried to find the 4 remaining people but the bad stormy weather made it exasperating to carry on the mission any further. After a couple of months, when the conditions became stable and the ice melted, the rest of the hikers were found dead enshrouded in the snow. 2 people, Nicolai Brignolles and Semyon had sustained heavy injury in their skull and chest which was even more inimical compared to a car accident victim and the injury was done strangely from the inside of the body and not outside. One of the hikers Alexander was lucky compared to the other 3 as he died without any vital laceration. The most unpropitious death was that of the only lady hiker of the group named Dubinina. She had her lips, tongue, facial tissue ripped and even her eyes gouged out. She even sustained a major injury on her skull bone. She was found kneeling with her head on a rock in front of her. All of them had died at different timings. Further research showed signs of exposure to radiation on some of the dead bodies.
What did the experts conclude?
The first explanation was that the tribals of the area had attacked them as they had all of a sudden ran out of their camp. But considering the non-violent track record of the tribals of that region and research suggesting no human assault, this justification was ruled out. No animals or creaturs could have done it either as there were no other footprints on the snow apart from the hikers themselves. The locals said that they had seen a bright light in the sky almost the same time when these forlorn deaths took place. The investigation showed no sign of avalanche either as suggested by one group. Why were some of them naked? What about radiation? How can a physical injury happen from within the body? Experts from all around the world tried hard to correlate all the deaths but nobody has been able to solve the nonplussing mystery of Dyatlov pass.