On a fateful morning after the exercises, the helicopter brought the tops of the emergency department to one of the most beautiful places in the Putoran plateau. The height of the Kitababo-Oron waterfall, located on the protected territory of the reserve, is 27 meters. In the retinue of the minister (in addition to the protection) were: his deputy Andrei Gurovich, the head of the apparatus Vadim Soonynikov and the adviser to the Minister of Sports Andrei Merzlikin. Also with the campaign was a friend of the minister, director Andrei Melnik, who was present at the exercises.
Experienced rescuers say that it is better not to rise on the waterfalls of the Irkingda river without equipment, at least without reliable shoes and sticks.
As a result, at the top, events developed quickly. Zinichev, along with Melnik, approached the cliff, one stumbled lost his balance, the other tried to grab him by the clothes, but also could not resist wet stones.
Men simultaneously fell from a height of a 7-8-story building. They took them out by the participants of the tour. According to the source, already then there was a fear of reporting to Moscow about the death of the federal minister. Zinicheva and Melnik was sent by a helicopter to the district hospital of Norilsk. About two hours have passed from the moment of falling to the moment of the report to the presidential administration. All this time, officials sophisticated in hardware games formed a slender version of events. As a result, Gurovich called the AP, who said the version, which everyone heard: Zinichev died during the exercises, saving the operator, jumped from the cliff. It’s just that no one wanted to answer obvious questions: how it happened that large departmental exercises ended in a walk along the reserve; who called the minister on excursion; Who carried out security measures during it.
As a result, all these questions still arose and will have to answer them.
“ВЧК ОГПУ”