Dyatlov Incident: How Science Unraveled a 60-Year-Old Mystery

In February 1959, in Russia, it was panic. Indeed, a mysterious affair is revealed in broad daylight. In the mountains of the Urals, nine students who left for hiking are found dead. A mystery that will not be resolved for several decades and the intervention of researchers who have come to bring the most plausible theory to this drama. Let us therefore return to this theory which was published in the review Earth & Environment Communications In January 2021 and which would therefore have partially resolved the mysterious affair of the Dyatlov pass.

In view of the investigation, the nine students (2 girls and 7 boys) died on the night of February 1, 1959 on the sides of Kholat Syakhl, a mountain whose translation in the dialect of a local tribe was a little announcing since its name can be translated as “dead mountain” in Mansi language.

While they did not return from their expedition which was to last two weeks, the authorities were dispatched on the spot. After months of research, the bodies were found and they were in very pitiful condition. Some had several broken bones, others had seen their orbital cavity being emptied, one of the members had also lost its language. Still stranger, many of the victims were entirely or partially undressed.

It was then that the Dyatlov pass affair, name of the 23 -year -old student who led the expedition, began.

Theories on the Dyatlov pass affair

As soon as the case broke out in broad daylight, specialists looked at the issue and explained that an avalanche was the head of these tragic deaths. A theory that did not stand up at the time:

• The bodies were not found under the snow
• Their tent was empty and abandoned
• No trace of asphyxiation was found on the victims
• No snowfall took place on the night of February 1

Thus, the theory of the avalanche to explain the drama of the Dyatlov pass did not stand up. However, this is the version that the Soviet authorities have retained which probably passed the case in silence.

A plethora of theories then started to emerge to explain the disappearance of the Dyatlov expedition. For some, illegal military tests are behind the extremely violent death of individuals. For others, it would go from the responsibility of the Mansi tribe, a people living in the region and considering the mountain as sacred. Finally, for cryptozoologists, it was indeed an attack on the famous Yeti.

If these theories had the consequence of causing a slight drop in confidence in the Soviet regime or to fuel a theory on an abominable man of the snow, the mystery of the Dyatlov pass had serious consequences on the Mansi tribe.

Convinced of their guilt, the investigators did not stop looking for a culprit among the members of the tribe, even going, with regard to certain testimonies harvested for the Bbctorture members of the community to obtain confessions. In vain.

An avalanche would be well the head of the death of the nine students

Indeed, with regard to Johan Gaume, associate professor at the École Polytechnique de Zurich, and Professor Alexander Puzrin of the same establishment, the nine students of the Dyatlov expedition “were trapped by the topography local”.

If at first glance, the area in which mountaineers were tragically died was not conducive to an avalanche, it has become in the face of the strength of the elements. Indeed, before establishing their camp, the members of the Dyatlov shipment cleared the land to remove as much snow as possible.

However, if the weather had not planned snowfall, the wind was blowing particularly strong in the night of February 1, 1959. Fair enough to transport snow from the heights to the cross -section. There, the snow has accumulated and a block of frozen material of about 5 meters therefore swept the slope towards the hikers' tent.

Surely sounded and injured, the occupants of the makeshift shelter left the tent to protect themselves from the elements. If they may have sought help, it will never come. Thus, some members of the Dyatlov expedition died due to hypothermia generated by being outside under temperatures that can reach -25 ° C. When others have certainly succumbed to the severity of their injury.

But, although the theory of the avalanche could have been verified by computer simulations, some wondered how it was possible to explain the abuse that some bodies had undergone (ablation of four eyes and a language).

The researchers explain that the bodies of the Dyatlov expedition were exposed to elements and nature for several weeks before being found. In fact, it is very likely that scavengers, birds in particular came to use their body.

However, Johan Gaume, co -author of the study, wanted to specify that if the study demonstrated what had been “reasonably passed” with regard to fatal events, areas of unexplained shadows will always be present.

Thus, there is chances that the mystery around the case of the Dyatlov pass will never be classified, whether by justice or by public opinion which finds that the thesis of the avalanche put forward by Johan Gaume and his colleague is “too normal”.

Source : Bbc / National Geographic