٠٠:٠٧:٢٦Nadezhda Guriyeva, a history teacher who was with her 11-grade students during the Beslan school siege in September 2004, described the first moments of horror, the deaths of her own children - spending three days held hostage - speaking in North Ossetia ahead of the 20th anniversary on Saturday.
"I turned to my students to deliver my kind words and good wishes for their last school year. And then I heard a terrible scream and gunshots behind my back and saw a militant’s face behind my kids," Guriyeva recalled.
According to the woman, gunmen broke the windows on the ground floor of the school and started to force everyone back into the building.
She and some of the pupils hid in the boiler room, but were discovered by a militant when the door slammed - although she managed to keep some hidden.
"They (pupils) started to come out, and he (the militant) wanted to go inside when they got out," she continued. "Our current headmaster’s son came out from behind the boiler. He was in the third grade back then, a little boy. I said, 'Here’s Timka, the last one.' I took him by the hand. He fired his machine gun and went out. I closed the door. There were 17 people [still] inside, hostages, who were later taken out through the window," she added.
Nadezhda was taken to the school’s sports hall.
"One of the parents <...> tried to calm people down in Ossetian," the woman continued. "Apparently, one of the gunmen who was nearby did not know the Ossetian language. He said to him, 'Are you the smartest one here?' He took out a gun and shot him in front of his two sons."
Guriyeva and her children were sitting against the wall when a number of explosions occured. The first blast knocked her unconscious, and when she recovered, she saw the body of her daughter.
"My Verochka was already cold. I touched her. I could see, of course, that she wasn’t alive. I touched her, and it was already clear. Her whole body was of blue, yellow, green and red colours. A piece of shrapnel hit the back of her head. And it must have hit her tangentially, because her face was intact. She had bloody tears and a smile on her lips," the teacher said.
Her son, Boris, survived the explosion but died later when a fire broke out. Only Nadezhda and her youngest daughter, Ira, made it out alive.
"She (Ira) was coming from this side, from the side of the hall, and on the other side there was a militant in disguise, but with a machine gun in his hands. He took off his beard and shoved it into the rubbish. Irishka was looking at him. He pointed the machine gun at her," she said.
"There was a woman lying there near the exit. She grabbed my Irishka and covered her eyes. I think that’s how she saved her," Nadezhda continued.
Guriyeva has created a museum in memory of her late children and students. Among the exhibits are drawings and photographs of her son, as well as the clothes her daughter wore to school on the day.
On September 1, 2004 a group of armed men seized Beslan's School No.1 in Russia’s North Caucasian region. The militants - described in the media as Islamists and Chechen separatists - took more than a thousand adults and children hostage in the school’s sports hall for three days. 334 people were killed, 186 of whom were children. Russian forces stormed the building on the third day.
'Terrible scream and gunshots' - History teacher recalls 2004 Beslan school siege that killed her own children
Nadezhda Guriyeva, a history teacher who was with her 11-grade students during the Beslan school siege in September 2004, described the first moments of horror, the deaths of her own children - spending three days held hostage - speaking in North Ossetia ahead of the 20th anniversary on Saturday.
"I turned to my students to deliver my kind words and good wishes for their last school year. And then I heard a terrible scream and gunshots behind my back and saw a militant’s face behind my kids," Guriyeva recalled.
According to the woman, gunmen broke the windows on the ground floor of the school and started to force everyone back into the building.
She and some of the pupils hid in the boiler room, but were discovered by a militant when the door slammed - although she managed to keep some hidden.
"They (pupils) started to come out, and he (the militant) wanted to go inside when they got out," she continued. "Our current headmaster’s son came out from behind the boiler. He was in the third grade back then, a little boy. I said, 'Here’s Timka, the last one.' I took him by the hand. He fired his machine gun and went out. I closed the door. There were 17 people [still] inside, hostages, who were later taken out through the window," she added.
Nadezhda was taken to the school’s sports hall.
"One of the parents <...> tried to calm people down in Ossetian," the woman continued. "Apparently, one of the gunmen who was nearby did not know the Ossetian language. He said to him, 'Are you the smartest one here?' He took out a gun and shot him in front of his two sons."
Guriyeva and her children were sitting against the wall when a number of explosions occured. The first blast knocked her unconscious, and when she recovered, she saw the body of her daughter.
"My Verochka was already cold. I touched her. I could see, of course, that she wasn’t alive. I touched her, and it was already clear. Her whole body was of blue, yellow, green and red colours. A piece of shrapnel hit the back of her head. And it must have hit her tangentially, because her face was intact. She had bloody tears and a smile on her lips," the teacher said.
Her son, Boris, survived the explosion but died later when a fire broke out. Only Nadezhda and her youngest daughter, Ira, made it out alive.
"She (Ira) was coming from this side, from the side of the hall, and on the other side there was a militant in disguise, but with a machine gun in his hands. He took off his beard and shoved it into the rubbish. Irishka was looking at him. He pointed the machine gun at her," she said.
"There was a woman lying there near the exit. She grabbed my Irishka and covered her eyes. I think that’s how she saved her," Nadezhda continued.
Guriyeva has created a museum in memory of her late children and students. Among the exhibits are drawings and photographs of her son, as well as the clothes her daughter wore to school on the day.
On September 1, 2004 a group of armed men seized Beslan's School No.1 in Russia’s North Caucasian region. The militants - described in the media as Islamists and Chechen separatists - took more than a thousand adults and children hostage in the school’s sports hall for three days. 334 people were killed, 186 of whom were children. Russian forces stormed the building on the third day.
Nadezhda Guriyeva, a history teacher who was with her 11-grade students during the Beslan school siege in September 2004, described the first moments of horror, the deaths of her own children - spending three days held hostage - speaking in North Ossetia ahead of the 20th anniversary on Saturday.
"I turned to my students to deliver my kind words and good wishes for their last school year. And then I heard a terrible scream and gunshots behind my back and saw a militant’s face behind my kids," Guriyeva recalled.
According to the woman, gunmen broke the windows on the ground floor of the school and started to force everyone back into the building.
She and some of the pupils hid in the boiler room, but were discovered by a militant when the door slammed - although she managed to keep some hidden.
"They (pupils) started to come out, and he (the militant) wanted to go inside when they got out," she continued. "Our current headmaster’s son came out from behind the boiler. He was in the third grade back then, a little boy. I said, 'Here’s Timka, the last one.' I took him by the hand. He fired his machine gun and went out. I closed the door. There were 17 people [still] inside, hostages, who were later taken out through the window," she added.
Nadezhda was taken to the school’s sports hall.
"One of the parents <...> tried to calm people down in Ossetian," the woman continued. "Apparently, one of the gunmen who was nearby did not know the Ossetian language. He said to him, 'Are you the smartest one here?' He took out a gun and shot him in front of his two sons."
Guriyeva and her children were sitting against the wall when a number of explosions occured. The first blast knocked her unconscious, and when she recovered, she saw the body of her daughter.
"My Verochka was already cold. I touched her. I could see, of course, that she wasn’t alive. I touched her, and it was already clear. Her whole body was of blue, yellow, green and red colours. A piece of shrapnel hit the back of her head. And it must have hit her tangentially, because her face was intact. She had bloody tears and a smile on her lips," the teacher said.
Her son, Boris, survived the explosion but died later when a fire broke out. Only Nadezhda and her youngest daughter, Ira, made it out alive.
"She (Ira) was coming from this side, from the side of the hall, and on the other side there was a militant in disguise, but with a machine gun in his hands. He took off his beard and shoved it into the rubbish. Irishka was looking at him. He pointed the machine gun at her," she said.
"There was a woman lying there near the exit. She grabbed my Irishka and covered her eyes. I think that’s how she saved her," Nadezhda continued.
Guriyeva has created a museum in memory of her late children and students. Among the exhibits are drawings and photographs of her son, as well as the clothes her daughter wore to school on the day.
On September 1, 2004 a group of armed men seized Beslan's School No.1 in Russia’s North Caucasian region. The militants - described in the media as Islamists and Chechen separatists - took more than a thousand adults and children hostage in the school’s sports hall for three days. 334 people were killed, 186 of whom were children. Russian forces stormed the building on the third day.