ICRC Hospital of Novye Atagi - Aftermath - Evacuation, Debriefing, Ceremonies

Evacuation, Debriefing, Ceremonies

A convoy left Novye Atagi at the end of the morning bound for Naltchik transporting the survivors and dead bodies. Passing through Grozny, they reached Naltchik around 7 p.m. after 8 hours driving through snow.

The wounded was evacuated one hour after arrival to be hospitalised in Geneva, Switzerland. The following day, 18 December, was marked by a debriefing session of the remaining 13 surviving expatriate staff of the hospital. The session was led by a psychologist responsible for stress management at ICRC, especially flown in from Geneva. Each person got an opportunity to give their own account of the night, sharing their emotions with the group. In the afternoon the team gathered at the mortuary in Naltchik to coffin the bodies of their colleagues.

At the end of the day a long convoy, made up of a truck and about fifteen vehicles, left the city in direction of the airport of Mineralnyje-Vody, located at a distance of about a hundred kilometers. A ceremony took place in a hangar of the airport, the coffins being covered with the flag of ICRC. A hundred people were present: the survivors of the drama, other delegates who were going to accompany the bodies to Geneva, but also all those which remained. By an icy cold and in the noise of the planes which land and take off, a last homage is paid to the six victims, then each one, in a slow procession, ravels in front of the coffins.

The plane takes off and a similar ceremony is organized in the night of December 19 on the tarmac of the airport of Cointrin, in Geneva, in the presence of the local authorities, members of the Committee, executives of the direction of the ICRC and representatives of the national Companies.