Emergency Care following the Terrorist Attack in Beslan, North Ossetia, Russian Federation, 2004

Abstract

Introduction: On 1 September 2004 more than 1300 people were taken hostage in a school in the town of Beslan in the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania, Russian Federation. The crisis ended 52 hours later in extreme violence with gunshots, grenade explosions and fire that directly killed 329 persons, including 164 children, and injuring many hundreds. As external assessors we rapidly reviewed the medical care provided to the injured. Results: We found that more than 500 doctors, 1000 regular hospital beds and 100 intensive care beds were well prepared to care for the victims at their arrival to the 4 hospitals situated within 20 km of the school in Beslan. In the rapidly unfolding emergency with many hundreds of injured only limited on‐site triage was carried out. Civilians took the majority of injured directly to the hospitals in private cars in spite of 57 ambulances being available at the site. Following a few chaotic hours adequate emergency care was available to all the injured. Of the 661 hospitalised ...