They are waiting for a miracle and are afraid. Novy Dvor one year after Maxim's disappearance in Pushcha

A year ago, on September 16, in a small village on the outskirts of Belovezhskaya Pushcha. The child, who went into the forest and still has not returned, was searched not only by the police, military and rescuers, but also by thousands of volunteers from all over Belarus. Where the child could have disappeared is still unknown. Sputnik correspondent Inna Grishuk went to Novy Dvor to find out how the infamous village lives a year after the mysterious disappearance of a schoolboy.

You go into the forest and look under every bush

To my question, do they remember, the locals say: "It would be better if they weren't there at all. But Maksimka did not disappear." The disappearance of the quiet and calm fifth-grader divided the life of the village into "before" and "after". In the last year, the villagers have only to dream of a quiet life.

It turned out that since September 2017, people have been living in tension, excitement and fear of uncertainty, they have learned what interrogation is, many have gone through a lie detector.

On the eve of the black date, ordinary life goes on in the village. Taking advantage of the warm weather, the villagers try to dig up potatoes as soon as possible, and work in the field until dark. Several women, who are unloading briquettes in the courtyard, say that the loss of a child in their village is not a reason to be afraid of the Pushcha. No one can refuse to go to the forest, because you can earn an extra penny on the gifts of nature.

“We remember Maksimka all the time. You go into the forest and look under every bush. What if there’s something,” says Valentina.

According to the woman's observations, there were noticeably fewer people in the forest this year.

"This is not because of the loss, it was just that the summer was dry, there were no mushrooms in the forest. Now the boletus and chanterelles have gone, but the potatoes have begun. As soon as they dug up, they will immediately go to pick mushrooms," explains Valentina.

Parents of Maxim's friends noticed that children now remember him less often, although it is clear that they lack his company. The boys now try less often to go to that hut on the edge, next to which they found the bike of the missing schoolchild.

Mysticism on Zarechnaya Street

A mother of many children from Zarechnaya Street rocks her little son and tells how she had to communicate with investigators, the police, and act as an attesting witness. Since last October, she has another responsibility. The woman started a correspondence with psychics from Belarus, Poland, Canada and other countries. These people last year somehow contacted her through social networks, asked for help with checking their versions, and she agreed.

"I'm worried about Maksimka, I couldn't refuse them, I want this story to unravel as soon as possible, that's why I keep in touch with them," Alla explains.

Basically, they communicate with Alla, who are sure that the child is not alive, that the boy is somewhere in the village, many of them are sure that they need to look in the area of Zarechnaya Street.

From time to time they ask to check some versions or take photographs of certain places, and then they find mysterious symbols that give the woman and her friends goosebumps.

"How not to believe them if they point out the place and guess such details that are impossible to know. About a horse, about a green bag in the corner or a sideboard," says one of Alla's acquaintances, who helped her with checking one of the places called psychics.

“They say that they feel the soul of Maksimka in the village and the water next to him, but the tears of the mother can be water. Outwardly, we do not see this, but who knows what a person has in his soul, maybe he cries bitterly into his pillow at night. Check everything out for sure, you need to talk to your mother, but she doesn't want to, "the woman adds.

The interlocutor says that the police, although they do not believe in the version of psychics, sometimes use their advice. But many villagers believe, discuss different scenarios of events, including those involving their own neighbors. Now they feel distrust not only of all newcomers, but also of each other. Until the boy is found and there is no exact version of what happened on that day, September 16, 2017, everyone will remain under suspicion.

Parents believe they are alive

At the other end of the village, which is closer to the Pushcha and to the parental home of Maksimka, there are more optimistic moods. Neighbors and close friends as one insist: they still have the belief that the boy is alive.

“We all know that he is alive, here we have faith,” one of the neighbors says in a firm voice, putting her hand to her heart.

The boy's mother, like last year, does not want to communicate. Neighbors and colleagues say that she is sure that her son will return home alive. He refuses to believe in other versions.

"Of course, the mother will believe until the last that the child is alive," says one of the women.

The locals are sympathetic to the family's grief. We are sure that the uncertainty torments the relatives even more.

Conversations in the store: people are waiting for a miracle

On the doors of the local "Rodniy Kut", where there used to be a notice about the boy's wanted list, now handwritten announcements about discounts and hot offers are glued. Women say that the state store began to advertise itself when a private trader opened 20 meters away and attracted many customers. The new outlet almost immediately became a place not only for shopping, but also for the exchange of the latest news.

Sellers from the doorway invite you to shop, treat you to tea, and willingly tell you how the village lives. They have every inhabitant in sight.

"I remember Maxim well when I worked in another store, he often came with his mother, a good, quiet boy. His mother often comes here, but no one crawls into her soul," says the seller Irina Cheslavovna in short periods of time, when no buyers.

Her partner Victoria says that everyone in the village is worried about the boy, discussing this story. Many people remember a mysterious coincidence in the boy's life. Exactly one year before his disappearance, he slipped while playing on the lake, fell into the water and nearly drowned. Then he was rescued by one of the adults who accidentally saw the child.

"People are now waiting for September 16. They say that he was drowning on September 15. Exactly a year later he disappeared. Maybe now, in a year, they will find Maxim or some kind of clue on this day," Victoria reports from local residents.

Belief in mysticism began to appear, because so far there is no news from the investigating authorities and the police.

“Why didn’t they look right away? Everyone is looking, looking and cannot find in any way,” one of the villagers argues. The man stops her: "What can they find when the volunteers have trampled the whole forest?" And both agree that there is some kind of mystery in history, that the boy could not disappear without leaving any clues.

In the village they see that the boy is looking for

The residents of Novy Dvor can see with their own eyes that the search work is still going on. The village has been under scrutiny for a whole year, and it is already beginning to tire many villagers. At first, there were thousands of volunteers from all over Belarus who took part in a massive search campaign. They were replaced by the police, military, investigators, who are constantly in the village and the immediate vicinity for a year.

“Previously, everyone in the village was questioned, in the spring they were looking for them in the swamps, now, in the summer, they began to check the abandoned houses again. My daughter was recently understood,” says Valentina from Lesnaya Street.

An employee of a local store said that she also received a call recently - she needed to give the keys to the old house, which is now empty, and consent to a search.

“Everyone is trying to help, we know that the investigators need to find the boy as soon as possible,” explains Irina.

As Sputnik was told in the press service of the Internal Affairs Directorate of the Grodno Regional Executive Committee, at the moment they cannot give any comments on the case of the missing boy.

"So far we have nothing to tell," the press service briefly explained.

The whole country was looking for a child

10 year old. In the evening, the boy went to pick mushrooms, and until now nothing is known about his whereabouts. On the same evening, Maxim's bicycle and a basket of mushrooms were found in the forest about 300 meters from the village near the hut. A little later it turned out that the basket did not belong to the boy.

In the first two weeks, volunteers from all over the republic were looking for the baby. On September 23 and 24, the largest search and rescue operation in the history of the country took place in the Pushcha forests. Every day, more than 2,000 people went out to mop the area - volunteers, employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the police. Helicopters, thermal imagers, drones and gyroplanes were used.

For two weeks, the participants of the search operation checked almost 200 thousand hectares of forest around the agricultural town of Novy Dvor. The 10-kilometer zone around the village was checked twice by all the services that were involved, in the 15-kilometer zone - at least once, also by each service. These are rescuers of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, police, soldiers, volunteers of the Red Cross and a search and rescue squad.

The 20-kilometer zone was checked one time at a time by one of the services, and 25 kilometers away, a spot check was made of places where the boy could have entered by logical or illogical ways.

2017.09.23 13:01

Pashukovaya aperatsya, Novy dvor, 22 February 2017 Vasil Malchanak / Belsat

Belarus does not remember such a large search operation, which is now taking place in the vicinity of Novy Dvor, where a ten-year-old boy Maxim Markhalyuk disappeared a week ago. “If you don’t find it, there is hope that it’s alive,” say the volunteers. Correspondents of “Belsat” spent 24 hours with them.

More than 200 employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, police officers and the Investigative Committee, border guards, divers, activists of the "Red Cross" and the search and rescue squad "Angel" are working - on the seventh day, a thousand people are involved here. Day and night, helicopters circle over the agro-town and the nearest woodlands, about 30 ATVs circle the impassable swamps, and about 300 volunteers comb the forest in a chain hoping to find at least some trace of the boy. But there are no traces.

The supposed bed of Maxim. New yard. September 21, 2017. Photo - Vasily Molchanov / Belsat

"As if I got into a helicopter and flew away"

Maxim's parents started sounding the alarm on the evening of September 16, when it is plausible that the boy went to pick mushrooms. As we said earlier, none of the local kids went with him. In the forest not far from the school, the children had their "base", a hut where they played without the strict supervision of their parents. Not far from the "base", the father found the boy's bike and that's it ... The traces of the fifth-grader simply disappear. There were no traces left even from the bicycle the boy had ridden on. During the week the weather was not particularly favorable and after the rain there was nothing left. The media wrote that the dogs that took the trail lost their smell near the road, but, as it became known later, they were not well trained, and the smell on the asphalt road is always lost.

Search engines under the New yard. September 22, 2017. Photo - Vasily Molchanov / Belsat

Rescue workers and volunteers combed the radius of the disappearance site five times, but no concrete traces were found. Not a single piece of clothing, not a single thing. “As if I arrived, got into a helicopter and flew away,” the volunteers are surprised.

They quit their jobs and come from all over Belarus

“At night we took cars and searched for the tenth time empty houses in nearby villages. In one of them we came across a children's jacket. Immediately contacted the "angels", as a result, it turned out that they knew about her: not him. Every lead they hit was checked unsuccessfully a hundred times. We spent two hours in Novoselki, where, according to the psychics, they "felt" Maxim. Not a rustle, nothing, ”says volunteer Kolya from Grodno, who took a few days off at work and went in search of the boy.

“I’m here almost every day. How not to help? I myself have three sons, ”says volunteer Vera from Pruzhany. - “My husband asked me to stay at home even today, we have such a date, 12 years since we went through the wedding ceremony. I say, I can’t, this child is standing before my eyes ”.

“We have to look, there can be not a single trace. People are there, ”says volunteer Sasha, who works as a truck driver. Sasha took a vacation at his own expense and did not go on the flight to help in the search.

Volunteers mark the traversed pieces of wood on the map. New yard. September 21, 2017. Photo - Vasily Molchanov / Belsat

Seven ATVs from Volkovysk "Dirty Wolves" also came to help. “Everything has already been crossed there. Where we were today, for the second, for the third time, they checked. Two locals took us. I think this is unrealistic. What you need to look for is yes. But perhaps this is just a matter of chance. Today we drove 70 kilometers, where could this guy go? He could then return to the place where he was if he wanders, "says the" dirty wolf "Mechislav.

A helicopter over the search site. September 22, 2017. Photo - Vasily Molchanov / Belsat

Boy i will dream

A group of volunteers, together with the "angels" and activists of the "Red Cross" in the morning went to the forest 8 kilometers from the village. About three hundred people lined up in a long line almost a kilometer long. A raincoat and rubber boots are a must. Even if it is not raining, wet drops fly from the treetops.

Walking in one column is the safest and most reliable option. Photo - Vasily Molchanov / Belsat

The command "Movement" sounds, and people begin to make their way through the thicket of the forest. In order not to get lost, you need to stay in a column, but it is so difficult to lead 300 people. Walking through the forest turns into a continuous obstacle path. The shrub confuses people. While one person makes a few confident steps, the second makes his way through fallen trees, a swamp or through thorny branches of fir trees. After two hours of slow moving forward, tension builds up between people. Everyone is trying to offer something, but the only way out is to get out of the swamp and the firs and move on. And so on until the evening.

“I understand that everyone is tired. But walking in one column is the safest and most reliable option. If, God forbid, then we find out that someone found a boy a hundred meters away, which we missed, I will dream of him, this boy, ”one of the commanders of the“ angels ”cannot stand.

In a literal sense, every bush, every fallen tree, under which a child could hide, is examined. However, the whole land is trampled by the traces of wild boars, elk, roe deer and bison. At a certain moment, people from the left side of the chain begin to scream, the ground is shaking under their feet, powerful shadows flicker behind the trees - a herd of bison runs fifty meters away from us.

Forest. New yard. September 22, 2017. Photo - Vasily Molchanov / Belsat

“For 2 days I saw only bison, elk, wild boars, and hares. I saw no trace of a wolf. There are simply a lot of us here, but if you see bison, you should not stand in their way and it is advisable not to move, so as not to frighten away. And not to smile - grin, a symbol of aggression in animals. There is only one way out of wild boars and wolves - only to climb a tree. Someone shouted today: "Wolf". It is not true. No one could see the wolf. Wolves walk actively at night and only in packs. But even a wolf will never touch a person if he has not tasted human meat. Then they go crazy and cannot eat anything else. But these are very rare cases, these are immediately shot by hunters, as they begin to climb into the village, ”explains volunteer Nikolay.

Search operation. New yard. September 22, 2017. Photo - Vasily Molchanov / Belsat

According to Nikolai, one can easily survive in the forest at this time. This is not a desert with no water. Water, for example, collects in mushroom caps. Or, if you find a plastic bottle, you can collect the drops from the leaves. The nights are not frosty now: you will not freeze. The main thing is to find a dry place to sleep. It is important not to sleep on your back, preferably on your arm or side, so as not to chill your kidneys and get pneumonia. It is better not to wander at night, but to look at the sun during the day, navigate by the moss in the trees, which grows on the north side, and walk forward. In any case, sooner or later you can at least go out on the trail, especially if it is a forest near the village. Any path will lead somewhere.

“If the beast attacked, they would find it. Blood, remains, anything. If someone had killed, God forbid, they would have found a corpse. If they haven’t found it, then there is hope that he’s alive, ”says Nikolai.

After a day of searching in the forest, the volunteers returned with nothing. Hot food was already waiting for people near the village council, where the headquarters is located. Locals and visitors help as much as they can. The Red Cross tents contain bags of tea, coffee, sweets, instant soups, potatoes, warm socks, medicine, and whatever the search engine might need. In the evening, local residents return from work, who willingly invite visitors to spend the night.

Rescuers and volunteers combed the radius around the disappearance site five times, but found no traces. Photo - Vasily Molchanov / Belsat

Mrs. Galya, who took us into her house, is shocked by the situation.

“Where could that child have gone? I myself, when I go to the swamp for cranberries, only with a dog. As the fog settles, you will not get out of there. They say that he may be hiding somewhere. But how much can you hide? It's a child. There are normal parents. He is a welcome child. The difference with the older brother is 10 years. The father does not drink. Ordinary people, like all of us, ”explains Galina.

The red cross is distributing dinner. New yard. September 21, 2017. Photo - Vasily Molchanov / Belsat

The search does not stop at night. Helicopters with thermal imagers fly constantly, dog handlers with dogs walk around. Thousands of people are looking for and thousands are praying for the child to be found.

A raincoat and rubber boots are a must for search engines. Photo - Vasily Molchanov / Belsat

Locals say that after the incident, Maxim's mother's health deteriorated and the woman was hospitalized. Every day, at the place where a hut stands in the forest, a father sits and waits for his son.

Paulina Walisch

The coordinators of the search operation are asked to gather at the headquarters, which will be located at the stadium near the school behind the village council at 9:00, 12:00, 15:00, 18:00, and have clothes and boots with you for going into the forest.

Belarus does not remember such a large search operation, which is now taking place in the vicinity of Novy Dvor, where a ten-year-old boy Maxim Markhalyuk disappeared a week ago.

“If you don’t find it, there is hope that it’s alive,” say the volunteers. Correspondents of “Belsat” spent 24 hours with them.

"As if I got into a helicopter and flew away"

They quit their jobs and come from all over Belarus

“I’m here almost every day. How not to help? I myself have three sons, ”says volunteer Vera from Pruzhany. - “My husband asked me to stay at home even today, we have such a date, 12 years since we went through the wedding ceremony. I say, I can’t, this child is standing before my eyes ”.

Boy i will dream

“I understand that everyone is tired. But walking in one column is the safest and most reliable option. If, God forbid, then we find out that someone found a boy a hundred meters away, which we missed, I will dream of him, this boy, ”one of the commanders of the“ angels ”cannot stand.

“If the beast attacked, they would find it. Blood, remains, anything. If someone had killed, God forbid, they would have found a corpse. If they haven’t found it, then there is hope that he’s alive, ”says Nikolai.

Mrs. Galya, who took us into her house, is shocked by the situation.

“Where could that child have gone? I myself, when I go to the swamp for cranberries, only with a dog. As the fog settles, you will not get out of there. They say that he may be hiding somewhere. But how much can you hide? It's a child. There are normal parents. He is a welcome child. The difference with the older brother is 10 years. The father does not drink. Ordinary people, like all of us, ”explains Galina.

Locals say that after the incident, Maxim's mother's health deteriorated and the woman was hospitalized. Every day, at the place where a hut stands in the forest, a father sits and waits for his son.

Many people remember the history of the search for Maxim Markhalyuk. Then four thousand Belarusians came to look for the boy. It was the largest search and rescue operation in Belarus, Russia and Ukraine. But not everyone is aware that the work of thousands of people was organized by a small team of the Angel search and rescue squad. And for them, the difference between this operation and all the others is only in one thing - in the number of those who responded to the call for help. “If we had responded in this way to other missing people, we would have saved more lives,” says the head of the Angel squadron, Sergei Kovgan.

It seems to me that it is incorrect to raise this topic. What will it give? It will only hurt those involved. Maxim was not found. There is no final stage. There is no news either.

It was not easy to speak. Sergey Kovgan- the head of the search and rescue squad "Angel" - never seen Maxim Markhalyuk... But he is one of those who are in pain and who "has something to do with it."

Almost a year and a half ago, he took the whole country in search of the boy. There has never been such a large-scale search and rescue operation in Belarus, Russia or Ukraine. About four and a half thousand people came to look for Maxim. On one weekend, more than two thousand volunteers were simultaneously involved in the search.

Maxim was not found. And there is no news yet. But we nevertheless decided to raise this topic. To remind you how big things are done by the hands of little people. And how quickly we respond to a cry for help if we want it.

And appeals for help are published on the Angel's page regularly. People continue to disappear, and the "Angel" continues to search for them. With the help of all the same caring people.

Stage one. Buildup

At the initial stage, the search for Maxim did not differ much from the hundreds of others that had already been conducted by the Angel search and rescue squad.

Residents of the village of Novy Dvor called and reported the boy was missing. Sergei Kovgan contacted the police and the TsentrSpas search detachment, which was geographically located closer to this village, and learned the details. At that time, they had been looking for Maxim unsuccessfully for two days. The police said that no help was needed yet - they had enough of their own resources. But Sergei asked one simple question.

Is the child found?

This means that the resource is not enough.

There was not a minute to lose. Sergey has assembled a team of eight of the most experienced and trained professionals. Everyone responded, despite the fact that it was a weekday and each of them was busy with their main job. We loaded all the necessary equipment and arrived at the site.

It turned out that the first step was taken absolutely correctly. There were many people in the village who were ready to look for Maxim. They actively helped the police in their search. But there were not enough coordinators - those who understood what to do so that the search would be quick and efficient. They were the volunteers of Angel who arrived.

Most often, people who disappeared in such situations are found almost immediately, and the searches do not have time to grow to a large scale. It was expected that it will be so this time.

It was illogical and wrong to lift many thousands of people, comb every meter of the forest at that stage. It was more efficient and faster to inspect the areas where Maxim was most likely to be.

The search algorithm in such cases is standard and the only correct one. The place where Maxim's bike was found became the starting point. First of all, the perimeter closest to it was examined, then the area gradually expanded. They interviewed witnesses, reconstructed the chronology of events, calculated the possible speed and direction of the boy's movement.

The search engines of "Angel" understood that the main steps in the search for Maksim had already been made: the nearest paths and the glades known to Maksim were studied by the police officers. Therefore, they immediately began to move on and study other versions that had the right to life.

They worked out the version that Maxim got lost. Maxim was assumed to be alive and able to respond to screams. Therefore, they worked in response: in small groups at a distance from each other, they moved through the forest and called the child, then they calmed down and waited for a response; heard nothing - moved on.

We examined kilometers of roads to check the version of the accident. Any clues were checked: wheel marks during hard braking; glass.

The versions of the meeting with a wild beast were also worked out; and that the boy ran away from home, many others were abducted.

In parallel with the forest, volunteers surveyed nearby villages. Sewer manholes, wells, abandoned houses, of which there were many in neighboring villages, fell into the area of special attention. The territory where the landfill was located was studied with great care and more than once.

Anything could happen. I could climb somewhere for the sake of interest, somewhere something fell, crushed. All of these options were being worked off. The dump was dug, including in case of a criminal version.

Meter by meter everything was closed. There would not be a single house left where the police and volunteers had not visited.

Thanks to "Angel" the work was in full swing both day and night. For the search and rescue team, dark searches are the rule rather than the exception. People usually seek help closer to night, when they themselves have despaired of looking for their loved ones. That is why the "Angel" has all the necessary equipment: special flashlights, searchlights, batteries, compasses, thermal imager.

There were many questions that were not answered. The child's parents began to search almost immediately, and he no longer responded. The police arrived quickly. Something happened to him, or he had gone so far, or he did not want to respond - all this haunted.

It was the fourth day since Maxim's disappearance. During this time, the search engines and the police explored many places where Maxim could be. They returned to some of them several times. There was no result.

Sergey Kovgan began to understand that if the boy could not be found in the near future, he would have to act differently. A little more and Maxim could hardly have responded. It will be necessary to comb absolutely the entire territory, meter by meter, to find it.

And only in this case we will need a lot - a lot of people. The police, the Ministry of Emergency Situations could not provide so much. We needed ordinary citizens. Most of them are busy on weekdays. The only chance is to make a decisive leap in the weekend.

Part two. Preparing for the general collection

Sergey Kovgan says that it was only after a while that he realized the full extent of the responsibility he took upon himself then.

Frankly, at that moment the question was asked - what are we going to do if we don’t pull. What was the point in calling people if we could not organize them. But the goal was clear - to find Maxim, to give him this chance. And that was the only way. Therefore, it was necessary to pull.

We began to prepare for the weekend in advance. Everyone Sergei had ever worked with came to the rescue. "Angel" has existed since 2012, during which time Sergey Kovgan has trained many specialists both in Minsk and in the regions.

Many of them, for various reasons, have not participated in the search for several years. But in those days they came. Many of them completely dropped out of life for the entire period of their search: they left their jobs, despite the dissatisfaction of their superiors; lived in tents; spent the night in cars and were on their feet as long as they could.

In Minsk the administrator Julia handled a barrage of calls, tracked comments on social media, helped people unite for a trip to Novy Dvor.

And Sergei was involved, perhaps, in everything: starting with the selection of groups for the search, which did not stop for a minute, and ending with the organization of meals for those who do not eat meat.

The final preparations for the arrival of the people were completed late at night. The headquarters where the people were supposed to gather stood, the school stadium was cleared for parking, the field kitchens provided by the military were waiting, food was in separate tents; vests, batteries were brought, additional special navigation equipment was found.

At three in the morning Sergei went to bed, and at seven he was already on his feet: he went out into the street to meet people. Judging by the activity in social networks and the media, either a lot or a lot of them were expected. But no one knew exactly how much would arrive.

There were four cars in the parking lot, which was reserved for the arriving volunteers. Nobody was driving. Sergei looked at these four cars in bewilderment with a mute question: "Is that all?" Already resigned and began to figure out where it is better to send the arrived people.

And then I learned that the traffic police were directing the cars three kilometers from the headquarters in order to avoid a traffic jam. And the volunteer, who was supposed to follow this, did not argue with them. Four cars passed.

There were a lot of such little things, and each of them had to be solved by oneself.

In the end, the vehicles were returned to headquarters. There were many of them. People came and came.

Part three. General collection

By that time, all the work was coordinated by employees of the Ministry of Emergencies. A headquarters was organized, where all the information flocked and from where the coordinators received new assignments. Thanks to the technical equipment of the Angel, we managed to do this with maximum precision.

Each head of the group had a navigator, which made it possible to navigate the forest and record the movement of the search group. Then all these records were given to a technical specialist who brought together the information, translated it into general maps and transferred it to the headquarters. This made it possible to determine with absolute accuracy the boundaries where the search activities were stopped in order to continue them the next day.

The helicopters of the Ministry of Emergencies worked at night, and the most trained specialists of the Angel; the divers explored the swamps, the ATVs combed the roads. Thermal imagers surveyed the territory: one of them belonged to the Ministry of Emergency Situations, the second - to the "Angel" detachment.

Volunteers were constantly arriving. On Saturday - September 23 - there were more than 2 thousand of them. Their work was organized by "Angel". Sergei has never come across such a scale. So are his colleagues from search and rescue teams in Russia and Ukraine.

An avalanche of organizational issues arose: each of them had to be explained where to register, take care of his meals and lodging.

Sergei says that he could not have done it without the help of his team. Each of his assistants was responsible for his own area. One was involved in the provision and preparation of food, the other - the assembly of groups, the third - with lists, the fourth - determining people for the night, the fifth - consulting people. The main coordinator for the forest search was a girl Kristina... She was responsible for coordinating the work of the thousands of people who arrived.

Photo: the official group of the PSO "Angel" in vk.com

Our people worked hard. Such stress was received.

All members of Sergey's team were volunteers.

But one of the most important and most difficult tasks was ensuring the safety of people.

Each newcomer had to be registered, provided with a vest, checked his clothes and shoes, assigned to a group based on his skills, abilities, physical form, set a task, explain the conditions for its implementation. It took time. Strength and nerves were taken by those who came drunk.

Many volunteers were angry, rushed, had to explain or just ignore - safety is more important.

The older groups monitored the condition of the people, gave them the opportunity to rest, made sure that no one from the group was lost. The task was not easy, because ideally, each senior group should have had 5-6 people. They had hundreds of people.

One group included both volunteers and employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations and the police. This simplified the work: if something was found in the forest, the experts immediately began to study.

All possible versions were worked out and rechecked again. None of them have been confirmed.

They are trying to get everything out of me - what do you think? I don’t think at all. We have no confirmation of any of the versions. Kidnapped, killed, aliens stole. Do not know. We didn't find him. I know we did everything right. And 90% of the time we find people. The error here is minimal. But I would not rule it out. You cannot be 100% sure of anything.

After a few days, it became clear that there was nowhere to move on. All possible territory has been explored. It was useless to come up with assignments and search in the second and third circles.

I felt so sorry for the boy, and I felt sorry for the people. It was a pity for everyone. At first there was the hope that it would be possible to save him, then - at least to find him. And when everything has already been checked - well, how is it. So much has been done, but no result.

What has changed since then

During the search for Maxim, there was a lot of talk about "Angel". The number of members in their vk group has grown dramatically - up to 120 thousand. Search engines have begun to work more closely with the media - some orientations get to sites in a matter of minutes. But the number of requests for help also increased. And there were no more volunteers.

To be honest, those searches for Maxim differed from others only in scale. The procedure on our part was standard. We give the same information for everyone about the disappeared through our resources, what about Maxim, what about grandfather in the forest. We did not take any other measures then. People read and decided whether to go in search or not. Then we decided to go. If we responded in this way to other missing people, we would save more lives.

How to help

Angel has no government funding. The squad works thanks to the help of ordinary people and needs constant support.

Over the past year, "Angel" found 40 people, among them 26 were found alive, 14 were killed. They could go in search of one person several times, each search requires material costs. Funds are needed for fuel, special equipment that makes it faster and easier to find, repair and maintain it, and rent an office. On the salary of employees who not only go out in search, but also work full-time: a squad leader, an accountant, a technician-engineer, two administrators who receive calls from relatives of lost people, they distribute orientations. And this year, the detachment wants to strengthen the material and technical base of the regional offices of the detachment.

How can you support the Angel PSO with donations?

Transfer from a bank card https://imenamag.by/projects/26988691
USSD request for MTS subscribers * 222 * 13 #!
Electronic payments (ERIP)

Never have they written so much about a missing child. When disappeared Maxim Markhalyuk letters, tweets poured in several a day. However, by that time I had already given my answer:

alas, I feel that I am no longer alive. It's a pity!
- Charaўnik Vayshnory (@extravalex) September 21, 2017

Upon further replies, I clarified that maybe still alive, but life is barely flickering and if you don’t find it quickly, it will be too late... To the provocative question " why didn’t he turn with his psychic help himself?"I answered unequivocally: need to ask for help(I have neither a car nor funds to go to the place of search),

However, there were 10 psychics (that would be a list of names for us syudy!) Who joined the search for the 10-year-old who disappeared in Belovezhskaya Pushcha Maxim Markhalyuk... They contacted the police and were given the opportunity to go to the place. This was announced by a police lieutenant colonel in the talk show "Our Life" on the ONT TV channel. George Evchar, deputy head of the department, head of the department for interaction with electronic media of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Belarus.

However, their versions, the coordinates were unreliable. " Not a single case was confirmed- says the representative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. - If their information had weight, they would have long been on the staff of the Ministry of Internal Affairs or other power structures. But it is not so".

Earlier, I have repeatedly given such definitions for those who disappeared on the Web (most often on Twitter), I turned out to be right.

Also on the topic

Pregnancy weekly do's and don'ts

History of the kola nuclear power channel kola nuclear power plant

"On approval of the Procedure for the regulation of emissions of harmful (polluting) substances into the air during unfavorable meteorological conditions on the territory of the Sverdlovsk region

What to do with a bald head

Psychology of communication: how to communicate with people and not get sick How to talk with people