The policemen didn’t let the civilians hide; instead they hid themselves
Oxana Cachilova was born in 1977 In Chumolag. After graduating from high school she studied geography at a university. At that time her mother became seriously ill so she cared for her during her studies. A year after graduation she began working in a shop located next to the Beslan school. On 1 September 2004 shortly after 7 a.m. she cleaned up and opened the shop. Her daughter stopped by with her children. The older son soon ran off to the school while her sister and her daughter stayed to chitchat. At quarter past nine they left. Soon after, Oxana heard gunshots. She ran towards the school but was chased away by a masked man so she returned back to the shop. She took along a small girl who was blundering around the school and didn’t know what to do. When they tried to leave the shop the shooting began. Eventually they only left as darkness fell through the backdoor, crossing a vegetable garden. She had spent the next days waiting in the streets. When the Russian army cleared up the school and the dead and injured were transported in all directions she went to search in a nearby hospital. “Suddenly I halted; I saw legs, looked towards the left and recognized her by the legs. She was half-covered in a white sheet. ‘What if it isn’t her, what if it isn’t her? Dear God,’ I thought, ‘let it not be her!’” After finding both of the children safe and sound, Oxana Cachilova took them to Crimea where with psychologists’ help they recovered from the biggest shock. When they asked her if they could call her mum, she agreed.Translation coming soon.
