VLADIKAVKAZ, September 1. /TASS/. The head of Russia’s Caucasus republic of North Ossetia, Vyacheslav Bitarov, on Sunday awarded medals to officers and rescuers who helped to release hostages from Beslan’s School No.1 in 2004.
Bitarov said rescue operation participants were decorated with the "For the Honor of Ossetia" medal.
"The multi-ethnic population of North Ossetia will always be thankful to those people," the official wrote on his Instagram page.
Bitarov also handed the republican award to relatives of officers killed in the special operation to release the hostages.
"May the memory of Andrei Velko, Valery Zamarayev, Oleg Ilyin, Oleg Loskov, Vyacheslav Malyarov, Alexander Perov, Denis Pudovkin, Dmitry Razumovsky, Andrei Turkin, Dmitry Kormilin, Roman Katasonov and Mikhail Kuznetsov live forever," he added.
More than 1,200 people were taken hostage during the terrorist attack at a school in the North Ossetian city of Beslan, which occurred on September 1, 2004, the first day of the academic year. The tragedy claimed 334 lives, including 186 children. Some 126 of these hostages became handicapped, of them 70 children, who still need rehabilitation.
Some 3,000 people paid tribute to the Beslan tragedy victims on Sunday. The memorial events began at the damaged building with a school bell at 9.15 a.m., the time when the terrorists fired their first shots. People are coming with flowers, lighting candles in memory of those killed in the gym. They are also bringing toys and water, which the terrorists forbade the hostages to drink during the three-day siege.