Vladikavkaz commemorates victims of 1999 terror act

An action in memory of the victims of the terror act committed 14 years ago – on March 19, 1999, – was held today in Vladikavkaz. The attack on the central marketplace of Vladikavkaz killed 52 people. The participants of the action laid flowers and wreaths at the monument to the dead.

"I remember the day and the hour when it happened. When I heard the explosion, I ran from the Mira Avenue to the marketplace, because I knew that my mother had gone there to buy sour cream that they bring from Mozdok. A blast occurred, as I learned later, just five meters from the queue, where my mother stood. It was difficult to identify her; and now it's very hard to think about it," a local resident Sergey told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

"At first there was a bright flash of fire, then a roar; and it looked like everything was in the air, as slate fragments were flying from the roofing over trading lines. I can't forget the terrible picture of transporting injured people away on the carts, which are usually used to bring goods to the marketplace. A few of us were driving out an elderly woman – we brought her up to an ambulance," said Kazbek Tsallagov, one of the eyewitnesses of the terror act.