The story of a man who burned to death in Sosva: flatly refused to evacuate

“I begged him to leave, I warned that everything would burn down, and you could die, but he just waved his hand”

The only person who died during the raging fiery element in the village of Sosva, Sverdlovsk region, was 62-year-old local resident Yuri Zhilin. On April 25, he celebrated his birthday in the circle of his closest and few friends, and a few hours later he was gone. He noted modestly and without mood, which, as it turned out, the man had not had for many years after the death of his beloved. Here is what became known about the circumstances of the death of Yuri from his sister Natalia Zhilina.

– Yura was a brother, he is 20 years older than me. He lived in his house on Tolmacheva Street for many years. The house was large, solid, with an area of ​​72 square meters. meters. My brother is not a pensioner yet, I just recently helped him get a disability pension. The fact is that Yura’s hip joint was destroyed, he walked very badly. About ten years ago he was hit by a car when his brother was crossing the road in an unlit place. He was treated a little in the hospital, and then the destruction of the bones began. And so he worked all his life in the forest as an ordinary hard worker: sawing knots, guarding, cleaning the plot, etc. But for the last five years I have been sitting at home.

My brother divorced his wife a long time ago, he has a son who lives in another city, tomorrow he will come and take care of the funeral. There are two more daughters, they also have their own families for a long time.

Yura’s funeral will take place after they take all the materials for DNA. All that was left of him was bones.

– How did it happen?

– Yesterday he had a birthday, I went to him in the afternoon, at first I wanted to congratulate him, to give him a gift. And when I was driving along Moskovskaya Street, where everything was already burning and blazing, I realized that I urgently needed to take my brother with me, because it was clearly visible that the fiery wall was moving towards his house. But Yura refused to leave his house. It was about three o’clock. He refused to go with me, refused to go with his friends who he had at his birthday party, then refused to go with his neighbors – they also called him and almost pulled by the hand. At that moment, when everyone was leaving, he was on the street. Then he went back to the house, but did not enter.

– Was your brother drunk during your last meeting?

– Yes, sure. He was upset or something, sad. I remember that I begged him to come with us, warned him, pulled by the hand, it was useless, Yura broke free and said: “I will stay here, I won’t go anywhere!” Then he handed me all his documents: a passport, a medical policy, pension insurance, gave the house book and something else. Why, I don’t know. I told him: “Well, you won’t go, so what to do.” She couldn’t carry him. He perfectly saw that a fire had started, I even specially brought him out into the street, showed all this horror and hurried him, because the fire approached the houses. But my brother didn’t listen to me. I begged him to leave, warned that everything would burn down and you could die, but he just waved his hand.

– Did something happen in his life?

– First, he was under alcohol. In 2017, his beloved woman, with whom he lived for 20 years, died. After that, Yura wilted a lot with us, went out, he didn’t need anything, nothing pleased him. Before, my brother drank, but for the last three years, much less, health did not allow, and there was not much money. I bought him clothes, food, medicine. We paid for electricity and even gave cash.

– Were there many guests at the birthday party?

– No, a few friends and a sister of just that woman he loved. She also called him with her, her son came for her. I left, but I kept calling him. At first, the beeps went on, but Yura did not answer, and at eight o’clock the phone was no longer available.

Late in the evening, my husband and I went to him and saw a terrible sight: nothing remained of the house, as well as of other buildings. We were looking for a brother, but we didn’t find him. On that day, my husband helped with a fire in the entire village with his group (he is a parachutist-firefighter of the aviation forest protection). Yesterday they were supposed to fly to the forest to the fire, but they refused the plane and helped people in Sosva. Today, early in the morning, I again went to the ruins, where Yura’s house was, and in the yard, together with a neighbor, we found his remains. It’s scary, it’s indescribable. The bones lay in the open. That is, he died right in the yard. Maybe the brother’s heart became ill, he fell and could not get up, because lately he often complained about his heart, legs, and joints. But it burned down completely.

– It turns out how exactly he died, no one saw?

– It turns out so, because at that moment everyone left there. He stayed there alone. I loved him very much. I can’t believe what happened. I blame myself…

Read also: “Screamed, roared”: the mother of six children lost everything in the burnt village of Sosva