- Id
- 321
- Date
- 04/07/2009
- First
- Natalya
- Surname
- Ostanina
- Sex/Age
- F
- Incident
- accident
- Motive
- J
- Place
- river
- Job
- journalist
- Medium
- TV
- Federal District Plus
- URALS
- Street, Town, Region
- nr Salekhard, Yamalo-Nenets Region
- Freelance
- No
- Local/National
- local STRC
- Other Ties
- Cause of Death
- drowned
- Legal Qualification
- 263 (Violation of the Rules for ... Operation of Water Transport Vehicles)
- Impunity
- investigation
Three members of a TV crew lost their lives on 4 July 2009 when the boat in which they were returning from a week’s filming overturned on the River Ob.
Nelya Longortova, Victor Kurtyamov and Natalya Ostanina and three other members of the Yamal-Region TV and radio company were travelling in a boat with a crew of three, making a programme about the seasonal flooding of the region and the local fishing industry. According to preliminary reports the captain decided to ignore a storm warning and continue the voyage home. The characteristic seasonal weather, short spells of rain with sudden very fast gusts of wind (up to 12 metres a second), resulted in a 3-metre high wave that capsized the boat. Six survived but Longortova, Kurtyamov and Ostanina were drowned and their bodies were not found until 20 July.
An investigation was opened under Article 263.3 of the Criminal Code: “Violation of the Rules for Traffic Safety and Operation of ... Water Transportation Systems ... entailing by negligence the death of two or more persons”, punishable by deprivation of liberty for a term up to seven years.
The Russian Union of Journalists issued an appeal on its website for donations to the three bereaved families.