The shocking mystery of the demise of seven hikers still leaves people wanting to know what happened that day, but no answers will ever explain what truly went wrong.
In 1993, seven experienced hikers between the ages of 15 to 41 took to climb Khamar Daban in Siberia’s eastern Sayan Mountains, beside Lake Baikal.
What happened to them defies logic even until this day, and one survivor’s account didn’t shed any clarity on the strange occurrence which left six people dead on a mountain.
Lyudmila Korovina, 41, was a survivalist and experienced mountaineering guide who was tasked with leading her students up the mountain with plans to meet her daughter, Natalia, and her own group on August 5, 1993.
Seven hikers took to Khamar Daban in Siberia’s eastern Sayan Mountains, beside Lake Baikal, in 1993 (Getty Stock Image)
Lyudmila and her students set off as planned on August 2, with everything laid out and prepared rigorously.
That day, three hiking parties set upon the trail, which included the guide’s party and Natalia’s, but only two would make it back down.
Everything appeared to be normal until Natalia realised that her mother’s party did not meet when they had planned – but brushed it off due to their experience of hiking.
However, five days later on August 10, a group of kayakers on the river would discover a girl staring at them close to the tree line, covered in blood.
This girl would open up a terrible tragedy which would go unsolved.
The girl was Valentina Utochenko, the sole survivor of Lyudmila’s group, and she was swiftly bundled to the local police station where she revealed what happened to the rest of the party.
According to her, everything went as planned, or even better at the start of their hike.
Only one of the seven hikers survived the mysterious incident (Youtube/Merc True Crime)
The weather was great, and the group were in high spirits. Amazingly, they even managed to reach the summit two days ahead of their plan and decided to embark on their descent.
This was where things would begin to get tricky.
With unexpected rain and chilly weather, the group began to ache and grow tired of the weight of their wet gear and decided to huddle in a makeshift camp on the evening of August 4.
Regardless of their pains, they were still hopeful of meeting Natalia’s group the very next day and as soon as light came, everyone ate breakfast except Valentina before they headed down the trial. But that’s when the nightmare began.
Soon after beginning their walk, one of the students called Sacha, suddenly clutched at his face and began to scream at the end of their walking line.
When everyone rushed to help him, he allegedly began bleeding from his ears and eyes and fell to the ground.
Lyudmila sent the rest of the group downhill to look for Natalia and her friends, but quickly, they heard Lyudmila’s screams join Sacha’s.
According to the sole survivor, the hikers suffered gruesome deaths (Youtube/Prosecutors Podcast)
As they rushed back, another student started bleeding too and began smashing her head against a rock until she passed out. Then, two students ran away in fear, which left Valentina and her friend Denis alone with three dead bodies.
They decided to get down to bases as soon as they could but shortly after setting out, Denis became the next victim to the mysterious illness and started foaming blood from his mouth.
This left the girl on her own for four days until she followed powerlines to the lake, where she found the kayakers.
Two weeks after she was rescued, a helicopter would discover the bodies on the mountain, and an autopsy showed all but Lyudmila had died from extreme hypothermia and exposure.
Lyudmila had died of a heart attack.
Many have theorised that the group ate poisonous mushrooms for breakfast, which is why the only person who didn’t have time to eat was spared. Others think it was a nerve agent, or contaminated water at the lake.
However, nothing has been able to confirm these theories, and no other explanation has ever been offered.
