Karaganda boy was shot during the terrorist attack

Zaur Gutnov, a ten year-old boy from our city, was slain by terrorists. Right after an explosion in the school gym, when a collapsing wall opened an escape route for the hostages. The boy, however, did not make it. His mother, who lives in Karaganda, could not find the money to make a dash to Beslan. Natalya Gutnova watched the explosions and shootings at the Ossetian school on television, but only after the funeral of her son.

The photograph, crossed by a black ribbon of mourning, shows a laughing boy. He was born in Karaganda, where his parents — Russian Natalya and Ossetian Vladimir – met and were married. Soon the young family with Zaur and his young sister Galya moved to Beslan, where the boy attended first grade. «I've been there (to his school) a few times,» recalls Natalya, a nice young woman in a black scarf of mourning. Her head is swollen, and her eyes dull. «It’s a normal school. Not very big, in an old building. I took Zaur there.»

The last time Natalya Gutnova saw her oldest son was a year ago. The family relationship soured, and she and her husband divorced. Pregnant, and with her young daughter in her arms, she went back home to her mother in Karaganda. Zaur stayed in Northern Ossetia with his father and grandmother. The mother-in-law did not wish to part with her grandson. Natalya says that she agreed to part with her son because she worried that a new academic program in the school of another country might throw the boy, who was earning straight A’s. This year Zaur entered the 4th grade.

They shot everyone

«That a terrorist attack had happened, that they'd seized the school, I found this out at 9 o’clock on September 1st,» Natalya said quietly. «I heard it on the radio while I was riding in the van taxi. I went home and right away I turned on the television. I grabbed the phone, but I couldn't get hold of anyone (in Beslan). The only person I got was a neighbor who didn't know much. He was very elderly. He would only say that his wife and grandchildren were also hostages. I continued calling my (Beslan) friends and acquaintances. Finally the wife of a friend confirmed that, yes, School 1, where Zaur was a student, had been seized and that he was one of the hostages there. Later, on the 2nd, my sister called my friend. And he led us to hope. He said that Zaur got away and was being evacuated with his grandmother. We believed that he was alive. But later, on the 3rd of September, when I was watching television and saw how everything had been blown up and how the children ran off, that evening I called my husband. He said that Zaur had been killed. When they said he got away, obviously they had just been trying to calm me down. Since the 1st and right up until the very last day, when he was buried, I hadn't closed my eyes. I couldn't sleep. If only he hadn't been there, but he had so many friends, acquaintances among the children in that school. Almost all of them were there. How Zaur died, I don't know a thing. Now all sorts of rumors are going around, but only one thing is known for sure: when the hostages started running away after the explosion, he didn't make it. Many children were stuck with him. The terrorists shot them all.»

Funerals

After the tragic news Natalya had only one thought — to go to her son, by any way possible. Her relatives were unable to collecting enough money for the trip, however, and the unfortunate mother did not want to burden anyone else with her grief. When they buried those who were slain at Beslan, one of the homes on a street in Maikuduk held a wake.

“I watched Zaur's funeral on television,” Natalya continued, almost in a whisper. “I saw many of our acquaintances, and him as well. A nice, affectionate boy. He never refused to do anything. You'd just ask and he'd do it. A gentle, loving boy.”

The road to her son's grave

Last week local officials learned about the plight of the Karaganda resident. They promised to help, if they were asked. Television journalists from one of the local stations wrote Natalya about contacting the district Akim (Kazakhstani city administration). The woman was in such a dire condition that she could not place her signature under the text of her application. The letter was sent to the Akimat. The next day she received a call from the district manager, who confirmed that the Akim would help the mother travel to Beslan, to her son's grave. The tickets were ready in three days, and on Sunday Natalya is to fly to Moscow, then on to Vladikavkaz.

If you are able of helping out Natalya Gutnova, you may do this by calling or coming down to the offices of this paper. Or you may transfer money to a bank account in the name of Natalya’s mother: AO Bank Turan-Alem, account 0301019189. RNN 301910907349 in the name of Chernova, Galina Sagityanovna.

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