A schoolgirl brought 30 people out from under fire at Crocus

The tragedy at Crocus City Hall showed not only the meanness of the terrorists, but also the strength of the human spirit, not only in adults, but also in children. Several stories about the young employees of the concert hall are already known. Despite their age, they did not run away from their place of duty, did not get confused or panic, but fulfilled their duties and saved dozens of people.

One of them is Moscow schoolgirl Alexandra Kravchenko. On the day of the terrorist attack, she was on duty in the hall.

Sasha Kravchenko is in 9th grade. Her dad is a former military man. Perhaps under the influence of her father, Sasha enrolled in a cadet class. After studying, she worked part-time at Crocus at events and concerts.

“We live in Mitino,” the schoolgirl’s father, Alexander Kravchenko, told MK, “here almost all schoolchildren work part-time at Crocus.” They have a teen employment program. Schoolchildren starting from the age of 14 work. Sasha got settled too. Now she is 15.

Friday was an ordinary working day for the young employees of Crocus. We arrived at 17:50, changed into uniform, received walkie-talkies, and assigned responsibilities. They wanted to put Sasha on duty on the first floor near the escalator, but at the last moment they changed their mind. This saved her life.

“I wouldn’t have survived if I had been on duty at the escalator that day,” the schoolgirl told MK. “The terrorists came right in front of this place. But at the last moment, the elders decided to assign me to the third floor, in the balconies sector.

Young Crocus employees are on duty in pairs. One checks the tickets, the other helps with seating: escorts the audience to their seats. Sasha got the seating arrangement.

“I met the audience and escorted them to their seats. By 17:50 my sector was almost full. I stood at the door and greeted new guests to help them sit down. But the flow ended. I was already mentally waiting to go to the back room for dinner. And then claps were heard. At first I drove away the thought of danger. But still, the sounds immediately reminded me of our classes in the cadet class. I realized that this is how the machine gun fires in bursts.

Sasha’s partner went downstairs to check what was going on. I took the radio with me. Sasha was left alone. The shooting intensified. The girl decided to go into the hall.

– I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t have any instructions. I couldn’t contact my elders either. I decided that it was safer in the hall than outside. Therefore, she told the audience to stay where they were, but to be prepared to evacuate: take their bags in their hands.

There were 30 places in Sasha’s sector. Among the spectators are adult men, women and about 10 children. But she made the decision at those moments, since she was an employee of Crocus.

– Oddly enough, everyone listened to me. There was no panic, no running around. Everyone remained calm,” the girl recalls.

Then the terrorists entered the hall. It has become unsafe to remain where we are. Sasha decided that she had to leave. In the same even voice, she told me to take my things and indicated which door was best to exit from. Everyone listened to her again, although, according to the schoolgirl, she herself was terribly scared.

– When I get scared, I may cry or faint. But this did not happen here. The only thing was that my hands were shaking terribly,” the ninth-grader recalls.

Having led people out of the hall, Sasha did not know what to do next. I understood that going out on stairs and escalators was dangerous. Intuitively I decided that I needed to hide somewhere. She knew there was a service area nearby. She directed people there. At this time, a fire started in Crocus. Acrid smoke began to penetrate the shelter. It was necessary to move on.

The service room had two exits: to Crocus Expo and to the basement. Where is the safest place to go? It was necessary to decide in a matter of seconds. Sasha thought that Crocus Expo was more dangerous: terrorists could go there. The basement was also scary. It was gigantic in size and without lighting. And bandits could also get in there. But I still chose the basement.

– I didn’t know how many terrorists there were, where they are now. Therefore, in the basement we walked almost by touch. They didn’t turn on the flashlights on their phones, for fear of attracting attention,” recalls Sasha.

There were emergency exits on their way, but they were closed. And then they saw that one of the doors was ripped off its hinges. Apparently, someone was already running through it. They opened it without difficulty and went out to the exit. From there – to the street.

“We ran to the metro,” says Sasha. “On the way, some teenagers asked us: what happened?” I answered that it was a terrorist attack. They started laughing. They thought I was joking.

On the subway, people without jackets began approaching Sasha. They asked if it was possible to return for things? They said that they were newcomers. There are passports in the jackets. The girl felt that she could not just take it and go home. That’s why I stood near the metro and continued to answer people’s questions. Her young colleagues began to approach her.

– We are all without outerwear, in uniform skirts. And it was very cold. Some kind girl gave me her scarf. All our guys didn’t leave anyone, didn’t run. Everyone stood and helped other people,” the schoolgirl recalls. “An hour later the curators started writing to us. They said most of the employees were fine. I met my partner there near the metro. Fortunately, she was also saved.

Now Alexandra Kravchenko has already returned to classes at her native school. She comes from a large family. She has a sister and four brothers. All relatives are proud of Sasha and wish her to quickly recover from the tragedy she experienced.