Posted on 09/03/2004 2:21:29 AM PDT by Former Military Chick
BESLAN, Russia (CNN) -- Hundreds more hostages may be inside a school under siege in southern Russian than first thought, Russian officials have said.
As the crisis entered its third day Friday, a spokesman for the regional government told CNN an earlier estimate of 350 hostages was low.
Two of 26 hostages freed by their captors on Thursday indicated there were 1,000 children, parents and teachers inside the building in Beslan, near the troubled Russian republic of Chechnya.
Relatives waiting outside the school also have said there could be as many as 1,000 hostages, noting that the school has 11 grades with 75-100 students in each grade.
Asked about the discrepancy with the earlier estimate, the regional government spokesman said officials originally accounted only for those children whose parents reported them missing.
But teachers also were in the school when armed attackers seized the building Wednesday morning.
And many of the children -- especially in the lower grades -- were accompanied by their parents and in some cases entire families for a celebration to mark the start of the school year.
"The situation in school very, very dire," CNN's Ryan Chilcote reported from the scene.
"Two of the 26 women and children released yesterday are saying the situation is very bad inside the school's gymnasium where the hostages are being kept.
"At one point the men were separated from the women and children. The men were then brought back into the gymnasium, but there weren't as many of them, and there's no word what happened to the other men."
"There is no food and water. At one point the hostage-takers brought them one cup of water for, as they put it, 1,000 hostages."
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
What Islamist allows young women to be nude
Kids are stripping down to cool off. I just want to blow these terrorists brains out IN FRONT OF THE WORLD! Maybe then they would stop this crap!
CNN reported the building they were held in was so hot the kids stripped.
They are showing a roof, but, I do not see where it fell in. Continues volly of fire.
Maybe Russia will stop dealing with Iran now.
It is extremely HOT in that building and they have had NO WATER or food for hours. These people make me sick. I wonder what John Kerry would do?
Kids were undressed when they came out. Why?
Those horses asses are still in there; back and forth live fire.
Call france for help?
You would think so anyway.
Those horses asses are still in there; back and forth live fire.
I can't say what I want to say....I'm at work.
About the same as Putin.. have Kofi send a letter condemming their actions. Just imagine this in the US
The water hadn't been turned off.
Some of them were. They were EXHAUSTED FROM THE HEAT and NO WATER.
Thanks for posting what is going on. MSNBC is so lame. They talked about the situation just a minute ago but only talking about what happened yesterday--26 hostages released--no mention of any of what you are reporting from CNN.
I had not realized that 20 or so died when they first took the hostages. I had not read only heard and up until just a moment ago I learned something new.
They do not know the numbers in there.
Where are the terrorists. This is what worries me.
Where's Kofi Annan when you need him? (sarcasm)
I'm having flashbacks to Waco and 9-11. This is bad.
If they blew the explosives which collapsed the roof... 'tragic'
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