VOLGOGRAD, August 23. /TASS/. Two injured survivors of hostage-taking at the IK-19 penitentiary in the Volgograd Region have been taken to the city’s main hospitals, the region's health service authority has said.

"Two have been taken to Volgograd's basic medical institutions: regional hospital No. 1 and emergency aid hospital No. 25," the news release reads.

In the afternoon of August 23, four convicts took eight employees of the penal colony and four other convicts hostage. The attackers stabbed and killed four prison staff. Another four, who offered resisted, have now been taken to hospitals. Four convicts were hurt, too.

As a result of a special operation to free the hostages by the Federal Penitentiary Service and National Guard all four criminals were liquidated.

Earlier, it was reported that three hostage takers were serving terms for drug trafficking and one for unintentional killing in a fight. Two of them were natives of Tajikistan and two were from Uzbekistan. In November 2024, the sentence of one of the convicts was to expire.