Why is the date February 6 on the cover of a criminal case?

Searchers are looking for the missing hikers in the area where the tent was found.

In the winter of 1959, nine hikers disappeared in the north of the Sverdlovsk region, going on a hike under the guidance of Igor Dyatlov, a graduate of the Ural Polytechnic Institute. The investigation established that in the middle of the night, for unknown reasons, they cut the tent and ran into the forest without outerwear or shoes. Six died from hypothermia, and three were found to have fatal injuries. The causes of the tragedy were never clarified, and the investigation was cautiously classified.

Those who diligently hid the circumstances of the deaths of hikers can be endlessly applauded. Well, it’s necessary to bury the truth so much that the story of the Dyatlov Pass has become the most discussed tragedy of the 20th century. In search of the cause of the children’s death, we literally have to study all available documents under a magnifying glass.

And here in front of us is a pennant - a sheet of paper on which the action plan for finding the group is outlined. It was written on February 25, 1959 by one of the leaders of the search, Colonel Ortyukov.

The point is that another rescue group has been sent to the Northern Urals region. And "in addition, systematic aerial photography of the entire area along the emergency route is underway."

The sheet of paper inside of a canister dropped from the air

The word "systematic" suggests that the shooting was not carried out because of the missing group, but most likely for geological survey. It is no secret that in those years, specialists were looking for uranium deposits in the Northern and Subpolar Urals.

The search for the group was carried out using helicopters and airplanes.

In 1959, work was carried out by a geological expedition of the Novosibirsk Geophysical Trust under the leadership of Bolshakov. It is known that the aerial photography was carried out on board LI-2 aircraft of the Novosibirsk 6th air squadron. LI-2 is a special type of aircraft. At that time they were only in the 3rd Moscow and 6th Novosibirsk air squadrons.

The fact that LI-2 took part in the search for the missing Dyatlov group is known from journalist Yuri Yarovoy. In February 1959, he happened to witness an investigation into the deaths of the hikers, and based on what happened, he later wrote a fiction book, "The Highest Category of Difficulty". In general, the outline of the work is very different from the real story, but Yarovoy tried to preserve the details of those difficult searches. Perhaps he wanted to at least partially convey the truth to the readers.

Here is a quote from Yarovoy’s book: "Today the entire air squad took part in the search. All aircraft, including the LI-2 that arrived today, patrolled over the Main Ridge according to flight assignments. There are no results yet."

Pilots could have seen the bodies first

We found one of the veterans of the Novosibirsk geological expedition, geologist Vladimir Povodator.

"All work was divided into two stages, office and field. The first stage was design, during which we worked in Novosibirsk, drawing up maps, filming schedules, and so on. The second stage is direct survey of the area. At the beginning of 1959, the first stage of work was just underway and the expedition was in Siberia, and later, as part of Bolshakov’s party, I worked in Ivdel."

Unfortunately, Vladimir Povodator could not give us accurate information on the work of the pilots of the 6th air squadron. According to the geologist, it is known that aerial photography of the area was carried out only in the summer. But it is obvious that in winter the aviators could carry out flights, since Colonel Ortyukov’s order dated February 25, 1959 contains information about systematic surveying.

Do you think the pilots could have known something about the tragedy at the pass? - we asked the Vladimir Povodator.
LI-2 planes flew on tacks every 200-250 meters. That is, the shooting was not carried out in a continuous sequence, but selectively. But the flight altitude was 120 meters.

So, if a certain fictitious rocket had crashed in the area of ​​the pass where the tragedy occurred, then the expedition would have known about it?
Certainly. But we didn’t even really hear about this story then. Or rather, we were told that the hikers died there, but there were no details. The locals also constantly repeated: "Don’t go there, beyond the Urals, it will be bad. Don’t go to these Ural Mountains."

They didn’t say why it would be bad?
They were afraid for some reason. And so they said: "Don’t go there, otherwise things will get worse and you won’t come back alive."

From which airports did the planes involved in the aerial photography fly?
Ivdel, Ukhta, Vorkuta, Saranpaul, Pechora.

There is evidence that it was the pilots who were the first to notice the Dyatlov group’s tent at the pass. What do you think about this?
They could very well have seen something from such a height. I don't rule it out.

From the authors:

Why are we suddenly hooked on this "systematic aerial photography"? We, and not only us, are haunted by the date of initiation of the criminal case indicated on the cover: February 6, 1959. However, according to official data, the decision to initiate a criminal case was February 26. Some researchers believe that the correct date is February 6. That from that day the investigation began and came to light on the fact of the tragedy, which it was decided to hide, and to open another case - on February 26, which, as we know, ended with the cause of the death of the hikers being called an overwhelming natural force. However, the researchers believe that they forgot to change the starting date of the case on the cover of the folder.

Other researchers believe that this should not be given any significance - just someone mistakenly put the wrong date.

But if the statement is true that the pilots were the first to notice the Dyatlov group’s tent from the air, then they could have discovered it, say, on February 4-5 and reported this to management. And the first investigators could already appear at the tent on February 6 and open a case on the same day. But these are still only vague assumptions.