Mrs. Teel
Ethics
16 April 2009
Beslan School Crisis On September 1st 2004 school number one in Beslan, North Ossetia-Alania Russian was taken hostage for three days. There were around one hundred and ten teachers and staff members, more than two hundred and fifty students and an unknown number of parents and relatives taken hostage. Due to the first day of the Russian school year there were a lot of people for the festivities that were going on that day. The reports were around one thousand people taken hostage. The hostages were taken into the school’s gymnasium for three days. One the first day the Chechen rebels entered into the school at 9:30 a.m. on September 1st 2004 they arrived in a stolen police car and a military van. They also came into the school wearing masks, camouflage and some were wearing explosive belts. During this take over some people were able to escape and they went for help. Once the attackers gathered everybody into the school’s gymnasium the attackers told the hostages that they were to hand over any cell phones. They were also told that if they were spoken to they would have to speak only in Russian. After the attackers had everyone in the gym the separated the men and took the fifteen to twenty strongest and killed them. The Russian government stated that they wanted a peaceful resolution to take place so they would not be using force to rescue any of the hostages. During the second day September 2nd 2004 they started negotiation which turned out to be unsuccessful. The attackers were not letting the hostages have any food, water or medication. Later that afternoon the attackers let in Rulan Aushev the former President of Ingushetia. He was allowed to take twenty six hostages and free them so he took and released eleven nursing women and fifteen children. Now going on two day with no food or water the children and adults became very fatigued and thirsty. Some even started to faint, when the children would faint the attackers would pour water over their face to wake them up. Around 3:30 p.m. on the second day two grenades were fired by the attackers to the outside where police and the public were. This injured one police officer. Later that night they also fired off gun shots which wounded one officer. On the third day September 3rd 2004 at 1:00 p.m. everything started to happen two paramedics were killed by gun fire while trying to remove around twenty bodies from the school. Then seconds later the attackers set off an explosion, right after the explosion the roof collapsed and burst into flames and killed around one hundred and sixty people. Once this happened some people were able to escape but a lot were killed trying to. The reason a lot of people died was mostly due to them being so tired and fatigued since they had gone three days with no food or water. Now with the explosion the government decided that they had no other choice but to go into the school and try to take down the attackers and save as many lives as they could. Even the local people that had weapons helped out and went into the school. The government had armored carriers and helicopters to help. They also had fuel air explosives and rocket grenades. The police drove the armored vehicles to the school and stared open fire at the second floor through windows. The attackers moved some of the hostage to the windows for human shields. The police finally gained control around 3:00 p.m. at the school. But they were still fighting going on outside. Finally sixty two hours after the hostage situation begun it ended. Many of the people injured died later at the hospital. “Three days later there were still one hundred and eighty people missing. The official total for fatalities was around three hundred and eighty five people. There were three hundred thirty four hostages, ten other people, 10 plus Special Forces, and thirty one attackers. The official total for injuries was seven hundred and eighty three. There were fifty five security forces and seven hundred and twenty eight other people.” The demands from the attackers were to withdrawal all of the Russian troops from Chechnya and give Chechnya independence. They also wanted several people at the school during the hostage situation. Those people were Aleksander Dzasokhov he is President of North Ossetia, Murat Zyazikov he is President of Ingushetia, Ruslan Ashev former President of Ingushetia and Leonid Roshal a pediatrician. There were thirty three official attackers, two women and thirty one men. Samil Basayev has claimed responsibility for this attack. Samil trained the attackers for ten days about twelve miles from the town. He spent around eight thousand Euros on this siege. The captured terrorists were sentenced to life in prison.

Work Citied
Beslan school hostage crisis. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.eikipedia.org/wiki/Beslan_school_hostage_crisis
Carnage In Russian School Siege: At Least 200 Killed, More Than 500 Wounded in Russian Hostage Crisis BESLAN, Russia, Sept. 3, 2004. John Esterbrook. 04 September 2009. CBS. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/09/04/world/main641167.shtml Chechen ‘claims Beslan attack’. Friday, September 17, 2004. Jill Dougherty. CNN Moscow Bureau Chief. http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/Europe/09/17/russia.beslan
Russia School Siege Ends in Carnage Hundreds Die As Troops Battle Hostage Takers. Saturday, September 4, 2004; Page A01. Peter Baker and Susan B Glasser. Washington Post Foreign Service.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A58381-2004Sep3_2.html