Ilfa Gagiyeva, 33, a local investigator trapped inside with her daughter Diana, 7, witnessed what happened inside the gym when the militants finally made good their threat to blow up themselves and the building if the Russian military stormed it.
"We were all undressed. It was like a sauna in there. No water or food and we were all burning up with fear.
"They had put mines all around the room, running two wires between the gym's basketball hoops and hanging mines off them.
"But when they tried to detonate them, only two of the mines worked. Both blasts missed me, although one was very close.
"One militant, Hassan, who was in the toilet for the explosion, tried to help us get fresh air into the gym. I ran to grab my child and we hid in the small hall near the gym. There we stood for 20 minutes, dealing with the wounded and hiding, until the spetznaz found us and led us out."
Nick Paton Walsh in Beslan
Saturday September 4, 2004
The Guardian
6 hours ago
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