How did Sergei Bodrov Jr. really die? Sergei Bodrov Jr.: were the remains found? What is known about the death of Sergei Bodrov Jr.

Died at the height of his life creative career. By the time of his death, he had already starred in several films and established himself as a talented film director and screenwriter. And, perhaps, it is symbolic that his death occurred during the filming of another film.

There were no signs of trouble

That fine September day in 2002 was an ordinary working day for Bodrov’s film crew. But Sergei, according to his widow Svetlana, was very sad. He talked to her on the phone longer than usual, as if he had a premonition of trouble.

At approximately 6-30 in the morning, Bodrov’s group in a minibus “Gazelle” left Vladikavkaz for the mountains to the filming site. At about eight in the evening, due to poor light, work was stopped. People began to collect equipment. At this very time, a huge ice block and collapsed on the Kolka glacier. And he began a rapid movement along the gorge, sweeping away everything in his path. This glacier completely covered the Karmadon Gorge, from where Bodrov’s group intended to leave just at that time.

Incredible versions of the tragedy

Almost immediately after the tragedy in the Karamadon Gorge, a huge number of the most incredible versions of what happened appeared.

The first to believe that members of Bodrov’s film crew were still alive were their loved ones and relatives. There was a very real rationale for this. Bodrov and his colleagues could well have taken refuge from the elements in a mountain tunnel that was located in the gorge. They had some provisions, but they had the opportunity to live under the landslide for some time. Another thing is that it took a year and a half to get to the rescue tunnel and the rescuers found nothing there except the remains of wild animals.

We are absolutely sure that the members of Bodrov’s group are alive to this day, as are the local mountaineer elders. According to their mystical legends, you can find entire inhabited ghost villages, in which live people who were taken by the mountains, for example, climbers who are considered dead.
Some believe that Bodrov’s death is closely connected with his character in the film “The Messenger”, which is in Karmadon. This hero dies at the end of the film and the death of the actor is associated with a mystical coincidence.

There is also a version that Bodrov was killed by the angry spirit of Genghis Khan himself. They say that the spirit of the great conqueror could not forgive Sergei’s father’s plan to make a film about the most powerful Mongol khan.

There are many more similar hypotheses. Just believe in them for the majority mentally healthy people does not seem possible.

On September 20, 2002, a tragedy occurred in the mountains of North Ossetia: the Kolka glacier claimed the lives of hundreds of people, among whom was actor Sergei Bodrov Jr. and his film crew. The film star and popular favorite was only 30 years old, many fans for a long time could not believe that he was really dead.

The bodies of the victims have not been found in 15 years, 104 people (26 of them filmmakers) are still listed as missing, and scientists have not come to a common conclusion about the cause of the tragedy.

Bodrov first came to the Caucasus in 1996, during the filming of “Prisoner of the Caucasus.” He admitted more than once that he would like to live in the mountains, but, unfortunately, this is impossible.

The film crew of the film "The Messenger". Photo doseng.org

In the fall of 2002, Sergei Bodrov returned to the Caucasus to film the film “The Messenger,” in which he acted as an actor, director and screenwriter - as he himself said, “like coffee in a bag - three in one.” On September 18, the film crew arrived in Vladikavkaz. Work was planned for September 20 in the Karmadon Gorge, where only one scene of the film had to be filmed. In the mountains, the filmmakers waited a long time for the transport that was supposed to take them up, and the start of work had to be postponed from nine in the morning to one in the afternoon. It cost the lives of everyone who was present on the set that day.

The work had to be completed around seven in the evening due to poor light. The group collected equipment and prepared to return to the city.

At 20:15 local time, an ice mass of 200 million tons fell from the spur of Mount Kazbek. In 20 minutes, the Karmadon Gorge was covered with a 300-meter layer of stones, mud and ice. The flow, reaching a speed of 200 kilometers per hour, destroyed entire villages, recreation centers and tourist camps. The village of Upper Karmadon was destroyed. More than 150 people were trapped under the rubble.

Karmadon Gorge after the tragedy. Photo magspace.ru

The road was blocked, and rescuers were able to reach the gorge only after several hours. All the residents of the surrounding villages also came to help. A three-month rescue operation resulted in only 19 bodies being recovered. For the next two years, volunteers worked at the disaster site every day. Right on the glacier they set up a camp called “Nadezhda”. According to their version, the film crew could get to the car tunnel and take shelter from the avalanche there.

Relatives of the missing insisted that holes be drilled into the 100-meter thick ice that would lead rescuers into the tunnel. It was possible to calculate the location of the tunnel only on the 20th attempt, and no traces of people were found in the tunnel. In 2004, attempts to find the dead stopped.

In March 2008, not far from the place where the filmmakers disappeared, workers found the body of a white Moskvich with human remains inside: over several years it had been washed out by water from the mudflow. Press Secretary of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of North Ossetia Vladimir Ivanov then said that it could not be a car from Bodrov’s film crew: “The Moskvich was found below the Karmadon Gate, and the film crew of the film “Svyaznoy” did not even have time to leave the gorge.”

Experts examined the bone remains and learned that the deceased was a man 45-60 years old, 175-177 centimeters tall, and had a second blood type. A local resident, 40-year-old Iranbek Tsirikhov, fit these parameters.

Sergei Bodrov on the set of “Svyaznoy”. Photo doseng.org

There are many mystical coincidences in this story. According to the script, by the end of the film “The Messenger” only two of the four main characters remained alive - and the performers of these roles (Anna Dubrovskaya and Alexander Mezentsev) were really lucky not to be present in the gorge that day. According to the script, Bodrov’s hero was supposed to die. Filming in Karmadon was planned for August, but this month Bodrov’s second child was born, and the trip was postponed to September. In Vladikavkaz, Bodrov lived in the same hotel with another film crew: in a nearby gorge, director Yaropolk Lapshin was filming a film about the collapse of a glacier that destroyed local settlements.

Karmadon Gorge after the tragedy. Photo mk.ru earthquake-today.info

What happened in the gorge

Kolka is a so-called pulsating glacier that collapses down from time to time, but it was impossible to accurately predict the time of the disaster. Scientists are still arguing about the reasons for the collapse of Kolka and have only agreed that one of the factors was gas-dynamic cracking.

Initially, experts assumed that the collapse of hanging glaciers from Kazbek was to blame, but now it is perceived as only one of the reasons. Glaciologist Lev Desinov (Institute of Geography of the Russian Academy of Sciences) insists on a coincidence of circumstances: several earthquakes caused the pulsation of ice masses, while below they were heated by an active volcanic mass. The internal melting increased the tension. And volcanic gases under pressure filled all the voids. The scientist was one of the first experts from the Ministry of Emergency Situations who flew over the glacier immediately after its collapse.

Memorial plaque at the site of the tragedy. Photo mk.ru earthquake-today.info

Mysterious circumstances The tragedies forced many to put forward mystical versions of what happened. Some mountaineers claimed that an hour and a half after the glacier disappeared, members of the group got in touch, and there were also people who allegedly saw Bodrov alive years after the tragedy.

Everything that is reliably known about the death of actor Sergei Bodrov can be summed up in a few words. He went missing in 2002 in the Karmadon Gorge in the Caucasus (North Ossetia). This happened approximately in the morning of September 20th.

“Missing” in this case means that neither Sergei’s remains nor any other material evidence of his death were found. This gives very slim hope to his family and food for a colossal amount of rumors to outsiders.

Descended glacier

By official version, Bodrov Jr. presumably died due to a collapsed glacier. In the area of ​​the Karmadon Gorge there are 2 glaciers: Maili and Kolka. The latter caused the death of Sergei Bodrov’s film crew (they were filming the film “The Messenger”). An avalanche descending from a glacier is a colossus of enormous destructive power. The glacier that killed the Moscow filmmakers that day weighed about 200 million tons. The ice mass was moving at a speed of 160-180 km/h. It is simply impossible for anyone to survive along its path.

Due to an avalanche, the village of Verkhniy Karmadon was completely wiped off the face of the earth. About 100 people died (these are only those whose remains were discovered or at least something is known about them). The bodies of people from the cinematographic group, including Bodrov himself, were not found. After such avalanches, remains are often discovered hundreds of years later. In all likelihood, confirmation of Sergei’s death may not come very soon.

Why did this happen

In connection with the death of the film crew, the press often raises the topic of why the multi-ton ice block began to move then. According to some observers, the Kolka glacier melted at the end of summer and therefore disappeared on September 20. Professional geologists claim that this is impossible. A glacier that has been formed for many thousands, or even millions, of years cannot just melt and suddenly begin to move.

Another version seems more likely. The day before, tectonic plates had moved deep underground in that mountainous region. As a result, a powerful gas chemical release occurred on September 20. Only this could move the glacier. According to the testimony of tourists in the group of Dmitry Solodky and Olga Nepoba, who were in Caucasus mountains on the eve of the tragedy, long before it, a threatening roar was heard coming from underground. This sound could indicate movements occurring in the rock mass.

If these dire omens had been taken into account then, Sergei would probably be alive now. To justify people who did not pay attention to such a serious point, we can say that tectonic shifts occur extremely rarely. This, even in mountainous areas, can happen once every 100, or even 1000 years. Not everyone is “lucky” to observe such “breathing of the Earth.”

The deep memory of him was preserved only in folk traditions. It is not for nothing that since ancient times it was customary in the Caucasus to settle higher in the mountains, and not at their foot. The ancestors preserved the memory of the tragedies that happened centuries ago in the foothill regions.

Possibly alive

More optimistic citizens put forward an alternative version: Bodrov Jr. could have been saved. Confirmation of the likelihood of this, among other things, is the testimony of some eyewitnesses who survived the glacier collapse. One witness later told reporters how the glacier bypassed her five-story building.

Mountaineers know many stories about how people miraculously survived an avalanche and settled in high-mountain villages. As a result of the injuries, some lose their memory, others can be seriously crippled. If someone discovers such a crash victim, she can be rescued. Sergei Bodrov had a small chance to survive, but still.

The remains of one of the victims (possibly Sergei Bodrov) of the ice collapse in September 2002 were found in the Genaldon Gorge (North Ossetia). This was reported by a representative of the press service of the republican department of the Ministry of Emergency Situations.

According to him, the remains were discovered by employees of the Cascade Mountain Club enterprise, who were laying a pipeline along the bank of the Genaldon River. Oleg Rzhanov, the head of the enterprise, said that streams of river water from the mudflow washed away fragments of the Moskvich brand body, inside of which there were scraps of rotted clothing, as well as human remains.

The news excited the whole of North Ossetia. Officially, the search for those killed during the collapse of the Kolka glacier was stopped more than a year ago. Relatives of the missing carried out excavations themselves for a long time, but last spring they too came to terms with the loss of their loved ones. All work was stopped at the site of the tunnel, where Sergei Bodrov’s film crew could presumably have taken refuge. And then - just 100 meters north of this very tunnel - they found the body of a man.

On Saturday, employees of the Institute of Geology Russian Academy Sciences, while walking around the glacier, saw rags sticking out of the mess of mud, stones and ice. They approached out of curiosity, and there were the remains of a man. There were shoes lying a little to the side.

This is not a body, but only bones. Well, what do you want - two years have passed, say geologists Anatoly Gurbanov and Stanislav Bubnov. - Only experts can say who it is. But we immediately thought - is this really Brother?..

For now, we can only say that the remains belong to a man aged 30-35 years. “Everything else will become clear after the examination,” said Georgy Thapsaev, head of the forensic department of the Prigorodny district of North Ossetia. - We will be able to give the first expert opinion only in 10 days.

Experts say that the body was preserved surprisingly well, although the speed of the glacier reached 250 km/h. In such a meat grinder only small parts could be preserved. According to the Ministry of Emergency Situations, the body was most likely brought to the surface by the waters of the glacier, which began to melt especially actively this summer.

Was the body of Sergei Bodrov found?

For the first time, a victim of a glacier was discovered in the very heart of the ice mass, where its thickness is more than 100 meters. No one has ever tried to search there.

Vladimir Ivanov, head of the information department of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of North Ossetia: “Several local residents who had previously assisted volunteer searchers on the glacier in the winter of 2003 were present during the work of the operatives and rescuers. And they, in general, were discouraged by the very location of the remains. It was through this place that the road to the ice blockage passed, which led to the adit, which was pierced to the northern portal of the Karmadon tunnel.”

It was assumed that the group of Sergei Bodrov Jr. could have escaped in the tunnel. This is about 150 meters down the glacier. But experts already said then that people could have ended up anywhere in the gorge.

So far, the melting ice has freed only one victim. Operatives and rescuers took the remains, but did not start any new searches. Now, based on the trousers, jacket and boots, they will try to figure out who they finally dug up: local resident or a member of the film crew. It is already known for sure that, judging by his age, this is not Bodrov himself.

Georgy Thapsaev, head of the forensic medical examination department of the Prigorodny district of North Ossetia: “We can say that the bone remains, judging by anatomical structure, are the remains of a male corpse, judging by the teeth and their degree of wear, about 30–40 years old.”

This is the 19th of 123 victims of the glacier. The Ministry of Emergency Situations fears that the find will again bring people who have lost relatives to Karmadon. But now the relatives again have at least a ghostly hope of finding the bodies of their loved ones.

Let us recall that on September 20, 2002, Sergei Bodrov went with the film crew to shoot a couple of episodes for the new film “Svyaznoy”. This was his first big project, where he was the director, scriptwriter and performer. leading role. But the actor never managed to fulfill his dream. As a result of an ice collapse, the entire film crew died, which after many attempts was never found. The ice avalanche, more than 100 meters high, moved at a speed of 150-170 km/h and, according to experts, no one could survive.

As a result of the glacier's collapse, the village of Upper Karmadon was completely destroyed, where more than 100 people died. Nothing remained of it, not even the foundations of houses. There is no need to talk about body fragments...

According to the guide, nearby there were three three-story buildings of the Karmadon sanatorium, where people from all over the country came for treatment. Built back in Soviet times, the health resort was famous for its unique healing waters. Now there are only thickets of bushes, grass and a gentle slope of the hill: Kolka has changed the entire topography.

Now in the Karmadon Gorge nothing reminds of that tragedy. Already grown on the slopes of hills and rocks new forest. The rubble of huge boulders was cleared. A new road and power line were laid.

Here passes one of the most picturesque tourist routes, and on the highway, which winds like a serpentine road, going up into the mountains, you can meet buses with travelers. They always make a stop near the place of death of the group of Sergei Bodrov Jr.: the guides tell what happened here. In the gorge there are two monuments to those killed as a result of the glacier collapse. You can almost always see fresh carnations on them, despite the fact that the monuments are located a little away from the highways.

However, according to geologists, the story of the Kolka glacier is not over. It has been established that it disappears regularly at intervals of once every 40-70 years. During this time, people, alas, manage to forget about what happened earlier and again settle in the lowlands of the picturesque Karmadon Gorge...