20.09.2008 12:47 | CROWDED JEWISH DISTRICT WAS TURNED INTO SITE OF A FIRE

Populous district, named Jewish, which is located in the East of the city, is one of the most injured districts in result of bombardments of the city. All this area was turned into site of a fire, practically it burned in its entirety. Tens of families have no roof over their heads; they have lost their property, which was acquired for many years. Fortunately, during a fire the residents of a district were in a shelter, in a basement of a building of Regional Cooperative Union. But all the same it didn’t get by without victims. Vasily Bazaev, as his neighbors say, was about 63 years old, he died from shrapnel wounds on August, 8, in the afternoon.

Svetlana Nanieva, one of the witnesses of Vasily`s death, tells about the circumstances: “In the evening of August, 7, I went to bed earlier, than usually as I was very tired, because since early morning when the sun even didn’t rise the heavy shelling of Tskhinval began from the side of the Georgian villages Nikozi and Ergnety. In the evening of that day Saakashvili made a speech on Georgian TV, where with his tendency to be hypocritical he was talking about his great love and respect to Ossetian people, he said he wanted the peace and promised not to begin the war.

Certainly, very few people believed him. Everybody was convinced long ago, that there was a discrepancy between his words and actions. But all the same, I hoped and decided to go to bed, to have a rest after the intense day. Soon I was woken by terrible sounds of exploded shells. As all my neighbors, I took cover in a basement of a former building of Regional Cooperative Union. This is the only relatively safe place in our district. The inhabitants of other nearby streets came there to hide. There were so many people in the basement that we had no place to stand. There were little children, mothers with their babies and the pregnant woman among us.

The shelling of the city didn’t stop even for a minute. I don’t know, why Georgians were vexed with our district, but they fired at it with special cruelty. We heard a roar of the shells, which were destroying our houses. It was impossible to go out to the street. Because of the cramped it was very stuffy in a cellar, but it didn’t matter for us, we were only shaking from fear and prayed for rescue.

In the afternoon of August, 8, a shell exploded with a deafening roar near the building, where we took cover. At this time our neighbor Vasily Bazaev was coming down to a cellar, but was not in time: the shrapnel of a shell hit him and he died instantaneous death. Mother and daughter Natela and Ira Kudukhovs received serious shrapnel wounds. Natella subsequently was taken to Moscow hospital, she is still there. She is already operated on three times. And her daughter received the help in our hospital. Sulico Kuduhov also received easy wounds.

For two days the body of lost Vasily Bazaev was near to us in a cellar. Nobody from his family was in the city at this time, the wife and daughters were in Moscow. In two days his brother came from Northern Ossetia and took Vasily`s body to Nogir where buried it.

Our district was under constant shelling, everything around was thundering and somewhere in half of an hour after Vasily's death our houses have flared up. We didn’t manage to take out our things and values. Horror and fear engulfed us. We spent three days in a hell. We have lost everything; we have no roof over our heads”.

Translated by Tatiana Inozemtseva