What could have happened to the Usoltsev family — a new version of the disappearance

The Usoltsev family disappeared without a trace almost a month ago. During this time, rescuers combed hundreds of kilometers through the taiga of the Krasnoyarsk Territory, but they did not find any traces of them. There are new speculations in the press about what could have caused the disappearance of the couple and their five-year-old daughter. Izvestia has collected everything that is known about the incident as of October 22.

The new version with the Old Believers

Earlier that day, a version appeared that the family could have escaped from the taiga and stumbled upon the settlement of the Old Believers, finding shelter in one of the communities. She was voiced by Svetlana Torgashina, head of the Oksana Vasilishina Search for Missing Children unit.

Indeed, there are from 10 to 20 thousand Old Believers living in remote taiga communities in the Krasnoyarsk Territory. Some of these settlements are not marked on maps. However, the Old Believers "don't particularly like outsiders," writes Gazeta.Ru" with reference to an employee of the administration of the village of Yartsevo, Yenisei district, who is familiar with the way of life of local Old Believers.

Later, this version was refuted by the search engines themselves as untenable. In their opinion, if the Usoltsevs appeared in this area, this would have been known long ago.

A separate response was caused by a video in which Irina Usoltseva talks about the upcoming campaign. She mentioned that their five-year-old daughter, who was originally planned to stay with her grandmother, insisted on going camping with her parents. Ilya Anishchenko, an expert on gestures, analyzed the video and noted signs of excitement and tension in Irina's facial expressions and behavior, which raised new questions. However, the official investigation does not comment on these observations, focusing on the theory of an accident.

Missing in the foothills: what happened to the Usoltsev family in the Krasnoyarsk Territory

The couple and their five-year-old daughter disappeared at the foot of Mount Pinocchio on September 28.

Chronology of disappearance

The Usoltsev family — 64-year-old Sergey, 48-year-old Irina and their five-year-old daughter Arina — went on a hiking trip near the Manskaya Loop and the village of Kuturchin on September 28. Initially, the route was planned as part of a group, but in the end, the couple decided to set off on their own, taking a corgi dog with them. Eyewitnesses saw two adults with a child and backpacks starting the route towards Kuturchinsky Belogorye.

The alarm was sounded on October 2, when the tourists did not return and did not get in touch. On the same day, the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia in the Krasnoyarsk Territory officially reported the disappearance of the family. The forces of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, volunteer organizations and local residents were immediately involved in the search. At the foot of the mountain range, the Usoltsevs' car was found, in the cabin of which all valuables, documents, as well as a child's seat with toys were left.

The search operation and its results

The search operations were conducted using the most modern technologies and methods. In the difficult conditions of the taiga terrain, low temperatures and heavy snow, quadrocopters, helicopters and specialized climbing equipment worked. Since the missing did not leave accurate information about their route, this significantly complicated the work of rescuers, who were forced to comb vast territories.

In total, over 1,550 people from nine regions of the country participated in the operations, including the Krasnoyarsk Territory, Irkutsk, Novosibirsk, Tomsk, Ryazan and Kemerovo regions, the republics of Altai, Khakassia and Moscow. During the search, volunteers and rescuers combed 515 km of forest roads and surveyed 40 square kilometers of forest.

On October 10, rescuers managed to reach the place where the signal of Sergei Usoltsev's mobile phone was last recorded. However, even this did not give any clues. At the moment, the active phase of the search is completed. According to experts, the probability of finding the family alive is estimated to be extremely low due to the harsh weather conditions, the duration of the disappearance and the tourists' equipment.

Questionable searches: the latest news about the Usoltsevs

Why did the massive rescue operation in the Krasnoyarsk Territory stop?

Investigation and main versions

The Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation has opened a criminal case into the disappearance of the Usoltsev family. He is being investigated under the article "Murder", which is standard practice in such cases and provides the investigation with more opportunities to work out all versions.

During the investigation and search, a variety of assumptions were put forward about what could have happened to the tourists. There were reports in the media that the family could suffer from attacks by wild animals, fall into the gorge, lose their bearings and die from hypothermia. There were also theories about the criminal nature of the disappearance and the deliberate flight abroad through the border with Mongolia.

As of October 22, an accident is being considered as the main version. The regional office of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation emphasizes that a lot of false information has appeared around the story, but the position of the investigation remains unchanged. They added that no suspicious circumstances were found indicating the criminal nature of the disappearance.

All important news is on the Izvestia channel in the MAX messenger.