Two days after the disappearance of the child, the whole country learned that on September 16, the ten-year Maxim Markhalyuk from the village of Novy Dvor, Svisloch region, presumably got lost in the forest. The message about the lost boy was published in the media and broadcast on radio and television. Then the rescuers and neighbors were looking for the child, but their strength was not enough. Therefore, they began to invite volunteers for a search operation on social networks.
It was known that on the evening of September 16, Maxim, while playing with friends, said that he would go to the forest to pick mushrooms. This is a favorite pastime of the locals: the forest is located not far from the agro-town. When the boy did not return for dinner, his parents became worried. And 800 meters from the house in the forest next to the hut, which the children had built for games, they found a bicycle and a basket of mushrooms.
September 20th. Volunteers travel from all over the country
Caring people cooperate and travel from different cities of Belarus. Those with tents and other travel gear are offering their belongings to volunteers to use. On that day, three volunteers left Baranovichi in search of Maxim. After returning, one of them is Intex-press, how the search operation is organized.
September 22nd. Volunteers set up camp
And on the Youtube portal about the largest search operation in the country. At that time, they were looking for Maxim Markhalyuk for the tenth day, but still to no avail. Law enforcement agencies did not consider the criminal version.
September 26. Criminal case
On the eleventh day of the search for Maxim on the fact of his disappearance in accordance with paragraph 2 of Article 167 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Belarus. If, within ten days after the report on the disappearance, the whereabouts of the missing person have not been established, then this article makes it possible to initiate a criminal case on the fact of an unknown disappearance.
The Investigative Committee of the Republic of Belarus said that no criminal trace was found in the missing boy.
“Today there is no evidence that a child who disappeared in the Svisloch region has become a victim of a crime,” the chairman of the Investigative Committee told reporters Ivan Noskevich.
September 27. The search continues
In the morning at 9.00 in the group of the search and rescue squad "Angel" information appeared that the lost boy had not yet been found. Also, administrators asked users not to spread rumors.
The main version of law enforcement agencies is that the boy got lost in the forest. Although after the initiation of a criminal case, other versions are also being worked out. For example, a boy could leave the house of his own free will.
The search parties went around the entire territory where ten-year-old Maxim could get lost. However, some places in the forest and abandoned farms are being reworked.
The grandmother heard crying in the forest, found someone's footprints in the swamp, psychics see that the child is alive, but it is difficult for him to move. Why does the search for an 11-year-old schoolchild not yield results, and are there any chances of salvation at all? The search for the boy is overgrown with new mystical rumors, which cannot be confirmed. The VG journalist went on a night search for the missing Maxim Markhalyuk and saw the activities of the search teams from the inside.
The boy took refuge in the old house
For four days the whole country has been following the search for 11-year-old Maxim, who got lost in Belovezhskaya Pushcha on Saturday, September 16. The trouble of a rural family consolidated the entire Belarusian society - perhaps in the history of a sovereign country this is the first time when people abandon all their affairs and rush into the forest as volunteers, and those who cannot pray for Maxim. They even created a petition on the Internet to oblige the media to make the main news about the missing people.
During the days of searching, the fate of the boy was overgrown with rumors and even legends. People retell them in groups of search engines. Rescuers check everything, even the most crazy ideas. A grandmother from a neighboring village went to pick mushrooms and heard crying. Another witch woman said that the child was thirsty, he was alive, but his legs hurt. A psychic from abroad, contacted by people via the Internet, said that the boy would be found on Tuesday night. On Wednesday morning, another version appeared from a Bulgarian clairvoyant that the boy found refuge in an old house under a roof, next to a road, many dogs and other animals. There is a large puddle of water nearby, Maxim is scared and his arm hurts.
There is no headquarters, no unity, and the village council is closed
A Tuesday afternoon search, which involved police, foresters and volunteers, was unsuccessful. But the search and rescue teams are not giving up and inviting volunteers for night searches. In the group of the TsentrSpas search and rescue squad, we write that we are leaving Grodno and are ready to take two more people with us. Not even five minutes have passed before a girl wants to go in search with us and begs to wait until she picks up the children from training. We agree to pick it up at Olshanka. Zhanna, 30, is a mother of two. When asked why she goes to the forest for the night, she briefly answers: "My son is 9 years old." Everything becomes clear.
The road 110 kilometers to Novy Dvor takes almost two hours. Participation in the search is the first for us, but despite our inexperience, we are sure that we will come in handy. On the way, we imagine that we will now arrive at the village council, where there will be a search headquarters and well-organized work, that in a few minutes we will be divided into groups and sent to search. But the picture looks different ...
There is no headquarters, no premises, no lighting. There is no single leader to whom information from the police, the Ministry of Emergency Situations, forestry enterprises, schoolchildren and volunteers would flock. The feeling that everyone who is looking for Maxim works separately and does not try to interact with anyone. The village council is locked, and people are standing in groups in the parking lot. There are many camouflaged people here. Volunteers, on average, look about 30. Men smoke cigarettes one by one, drink an energy drink and are silent. The girls are also silent. Cars drive up to the village council, tired people come out from there and shrug their hands guiltily - nothing.
Other volunteers argue with the commanders of the search parties and rush into the forest. Local residents, some of them already drunk, offer to go there. The conversation is held in high tones. Men are not ashamed of the presence of girls and swear loudly - these days of searching have exhausted people, and their nerves are just at the limit. We change clothes and talk about our willingness to help.
Guys, let's wait for our group from the swamp and then decide, - Christina soothes everyone. In the afternoon, information appeared that traces were found near the swamp. The search engines rushed to the place with the thermal imager, but found nothing. Then, in their minibus equipped for searches, the guys from the "Angel" squadron shone through the forest with strong searchlights and tried to designate themselves with noise in the hope that the child would see the light or hear a sound and walk towards it.
Knock on any hut - you will be accepted for the night
We wait impatiently, but then the bus pulls into the village council and exhausted people tumble out of the car. It seems that they have not slept for several nights, and all this time they spend on their feet. But the search again brought nothing. Commander Sergei Kovgan went to the volunteers and said that all the rumors and clues had not come true. The commander admits that there are not enough coordinators for the search who could guide people.
- At night in the forest you have nothing to do, you just get lost, and in the morning we will have to look for you already, - explains Sergey. - Whoever stays for the night and continues to search in the morning, let him go to rest. Sleep in cars or knock on any hut, you will be accepted for the night. Those who have work tomorrow and are ready to work now will receive assignments.
They give us fragments of a map of the area, name the villages and ask us to check all the abandoned buildings, stacks of straw, in a word, all those places where the boy could hide for the night.
The main beam of the car snatches out a dirt road, along which field mice and foxes run across. The forest is getting thicker. The night is starry, but dark, and, as luck would have it, there is no moon.
Found but lost again?
The first village of Shubichi does not look abandoned: lights are on in the houses, on the street there are lanterns that are visible from afar. We pass through the village and find nothing. We go further to the village of Bolshaya Kolonaya, turn off the engine and turn off the headlights. Houses are plunged into darkness. There is no wind, no rustle, only in the distance, somewhere in the forest, an elk screams terribly. It becomes creepy for us, we imagine what it is like for him, for Maxim, there, in the forest, where there are only wild animals around ...
A flashlight of light snatches out an abandoned house. The walls rotted and the roof fell to the ground - not a bad place to sleep! We crawl inside, we see straw, but there is no one else. And why should the boy hide if he went out to the village. Here, knock on any house - they will immediately help, because the whole country is closely watching the searches and is waiting for news.
Our night searches in Stasyutichi and Zalesnaya are also unsuccessful. There is no boy along the stream flowing from the Belovezhskaya Pushcha: we assumed that the child should hold on to the water, this is his chance for salvation ...
We call the number "Angel" 7733, report on the results and go to Grodno. On the way home, information appears that the child has been found. We dial the phone number, the woman says that the school said that the child went to some village at 21.40. This news gives hope until the morning, but on Wednesday neither the police nor the search engines found Maxim. It seems that during these four days the whole village has gone mad with grief.
The search for Maxim continues. In the search groups, volunteers write about their intentions to come again. Drivers in cars talk about free seats and call to join. The feeling that this search will never end ... They pray for Maxim and believe that they will find him alive.
There was information that the police of the city of Siedlce are checking the message about an unknown boy who was driving to the city, hiding in a wagon, and then escaped.
Photo: widefon.com, is illustrative
In the 20th of September, an as yet unidentified truck driver contacted the local police via an electronic communication form and said that on one of the previous days (more precisely, the police did not install it), a child climbed into the cab of his car, presumably then parked in a parking lot in Lyubartovsky Povet - a boy who looks about 10 years old, dressed in dark clothes. According to the driver, the child hid in the sleeping compartment of the truck, covered with a blanket.
At first, the truck driver did not see the child, and finding that he was carrying a "hare", he tried to talk to him, but the boy did not answer questions. Then the driver stopped at a parking lot in the town of Bialki to tell the police about the incident, but the child jumped out of the cab and ran away. The man reported the incident to the police in Siedlce via the website.
The city is located about a hundred kilometers from the Polish-Belarusian border. Local police officers, of course, are aware that a 10-year-old child has disappeared in the Belarusian border region. Police representatives explain that they are not officially looking for Maksim Markhalyuk, but all information and guidance on him has been brought to the attention of every police officer in the neighboring provinces. According to a spokesman for the police press service, these two reports - about the disappearance of a Belarusian child and an unidentified boy of the same age hiding in a truck - are considered here as possibly interrelated.
This could hypothetically be related to your [missing in Belarus] child. We pay attention to any unaccompanied children, but so far no homeless children have been identified on our territory, - said the press service of the Siedlec police. - We check any information regarding children, including this message about a boy in a car. Therefore, we posted relevant information on local sites in order to find eyewitnesses. So far, the story of the child who escaped from the car has not been continued.
On the territory of Poland, children have not disappeared recently, police said.
The investigating authorities are working out all possible versions of the disappearance of Maksim Markhalyuk - even if they seem unlikely. It cannot be ruled out that a child may be on the territory of a remote settlement in Belarus or even in another country. The investigation of the criminal case continues, searches are underway, - a representative of the IC department in the Grodno region told TUT.BY Sergey Shershenevich.
Photo: Katerina Gordeeva, TUT.BY
Let's remind, Maxim Markhalyuk on the evening of September 16. At about 20.00 he rode a bicycle towards the forest near the village of Novy Dvor and disappeared. Later, the police found the child's bike in the forest. So far, the search for Maxim has not yielded results.
10 year old Maxim Markhalyuk, a resident of the village of Novy Dvor, Svisloch region, have been looking for since September last year, but so far - to no avail. Local residents are asking for help through Belsat.
“I applied in order to establish justice. To appeal to the head of state, so that all these scoundrels who wanted to deliberately hide their tracks, or unintentionally, to be brought to justice, "said a resident of Belovezhskaya Pushcha and a former huntsman Igor Akulov.
Ten-year-old Maxim did not return home on September 16, 2017. In the woods not far from the house, they found the boy's bike and his basket. Thousands of people took part in the search.
“I think that it was on this road that something happened to this child. Because not a trace, nothing of this child is left. Officials ride, he could go out, vote in the evening, and it turned out to be a tragedy, "Akulov is sure.
The search for the boy began at night. The whole road was dug by the wheels of the members of the trophy club "Bialowieza Bison", who were invited to search. The road leads from the Voitov Most farm, where there is a hotel with a bathhouse owned by the Presidential Property Management Department, through Novy Dvor, where the boy lived, to the lake, which is leased by the SPK.
“Officials and local nobility often rest in that hotel. They rush along this road like crazy, drunken ones, ”the former huntsman testifies.
Spetsdoroga
For officials, an asphalt road was laid here, not marked on maps, with guards and surveillance cameras. It connects the hotel on the Voitov Bridge farm with the village of Borki and leads to the airfield in Klepachi.
“It was necessary to search immediately, not according to the version of the disappearance, but according to the crime, I think. Because they were looking for so much, but there were no results, ”says another local resident. Mikhail Sushko.
Investigation raises questions from experts
“From the very beginning of Markhalyuk's disappearance, the investigation dragged on for a long time - 10 days. Why was it drawn to when it was necessary to react to this? ", - draws attention to the former investigator Oleg Volchek.
The boy could not get lost in the forest without a trace.
People in the village are afraid to talk about this topic. Are officials afraid of investigative journalism?
“Everything must be neat. And rightly so !!! Because there were a lot of interpretations. You have come, you have come from different channels, television, radio. There must be one interpretation! Because they take from different people who are deprived of parental rights, and you are interviewing, they pour mud there. All this must be done carefully ... Do you understand? (Smiling). Let's hope that you will do everything right ... ", - said the chairman of the village council Vladimir Zdanovich.
Police: "Misinformation appeared more than once that the boy was found." How one of the most ambitious searches of Maxim, who disappeared in Pushcha, is going on
10-year-old Maxim Markhalyuk disappeared last Saturday. From the moment he left for the forest, it was already the eighth day. Throughout the week, volunteers, rescuers, police officers and military officers combed Belovezhskaya Pushcha, near which the Novy Dvor agro-town is located. The volunteers, the Emergencies Ministry and the police unanimously say: no old-timer remembers such a large-scale search. However, there is still no news yet.
Eight in the morning. Not far from the mechdvor of the local SPK there are tents for military and rescuers. There is smoke from the field kitchen. There are also two large helicopters and one drone from the Academy of Sciences, which was supposed to fly out yesterday in search of Maxim. Also, as reported in the Department of Internal Affairs, at night the boy was to be searched with a thermal imager.
The results of these searches are still unknown. At 10:00 a meeting of the headquarters began. By 11 o'clock, the head of staff, deputy chief of the Internal Affairs Directorate, Alexander Shastailo, will announce the action plan and details of the operation that took place last night.
- Today it is planned to participate 40 people from the regional Ministry of Emergency Situations (Grodno), 34 from the Volkovysk Regional Emergency Service, 34 from the Svislochsky and 21 from the special forces,- Natalya Zhivolevskaya, press secretary of the Grodno Emergency Ministry, told Onliner.by. - I want to emphasize that they all take part in the search in their free time. And they volunteered to participate in the search of their own free will.
Another camp, already of volunteers, was set up at the stadium of the local school. There are dozens of cars and hundreds of people here. In the center is the headquarters of the Angel and TsentroSpas rescue teams.
There are much more people here than yesterday. By nine in the morning, more than a thousand people from all over the country had already arrived. And they keep coming. Many take their dogs with them.
- We came from Molodechno. There were three cars of five people each. We do not know each other at all, we just decided: "We need to go." And they signed off on VKontakte,- says Svetlana, who participates in the search for the first time. - We left even earlier than at four in the morning in order to be in time by eight. We are all mothers and fathers, we believe that if something happens to our children, God forbid, people will also come to our aid.
- We are also from Molodechno. We spent the night here and are now ready to search,- says Maxim, Valery, Olga, Igor and Sergey. The guys periodically help "Angel" in his search and are going to stay until tomorrow if they don't find Maxim today.
- Most likely, he was frightened of wild animals and ran away and is now wandering somewhere in the forest, - young people are optimistic. - Anyway, we believe in the best.
The guys from the Brest motorcycle club came by ATVs. They say that it is much easier to search this way: there are many fallen trees in the forest.
- I was released from work yesterday. Reacted with understanding- says strong Sergei. According to him, the passages in the forest are difficult: there are a lot of windbreaks.
- It's easier for a man, guys walk 30 kilometers, women - 15 kilometers. We walked in a chain, there are many windbreaks, there are a lot of blockages, while you examine everything, of course, the girls lagged behind,- says Sergey.
- We hope that searches today will definitely bring results,- adds his friend Victor. - Today there are much more people, we think the search radius will expand.
Yura, Tanya, Oksana, Svetlana also took four hours to get to Novy Dvor from Minsk. They say they could not sit at home, knowing that they needed help.
- I have a brother of the same age at home, we also have a difference of 11 years, like this boy and his older brother. As I think that he could get lost, so already goosebumps,- explains Oksana.
- We simply could not sit at home, knowing that Maxim was alone there in the forest,- the guys say. - A lot of people were traveling. Those who could not go, they passed the parcels. We were carrying medicines, food, stationery. A lot of people transferred money. Trouble leaves no one indifferent.
- On weekdays we could not escape, we worked, - the guys from Baranovichi say. - And at night only specially trained people went to the forest, after all, volunteers were not allowed. So as soon as it became clear that we needed help on the weekend, we immediately arrived.
Local residents, who have been looking for Maxim for a week, cannot talk about what happened without tears.
- Oh, if only he could be found today, I can't speak, I'm sorry, - a tear-stained woman in a red jacket turns away.
- We are all worried about him. We didn't even see him that day, only one of us saw, - Fifth-graders are vying with each other at school.
At headquarters, Angel coordinators are discussing how to assign people. Not without raised tones. Many are worried and try to give each other good advice.
Separately, field kitchen volunteers sort food, prepare tea to feed the children.
On the other side, the Red Cross has pitched its tents. There is also water, food and all the information on the missing Maxim.
Internal Affairs Directorate: "If we do not find the boy in 10 days, we will initiate a criminal case"
After 12:00, we still managed to catch the chief of the search headquarters Maksim Markhalyuk - the deputy chief of the Internal Affairs Directorate of the Grodno Regional Executive Committee Alexander Shastailo. He told the details of yesterday's search operation.
- As for the reconnaissance with thermal imagers, experts identified several thermal points yesterday night. This morning, these points were checked by forces including the republican special-purpose detachment of the Ministry of Emergency Situations. They did not give any information about the missing person,- said Alexander Shastailo.
- At the moment, in the territory where, according to preliminary data, the missing person may be, searches are underway by the forces of law enforcement agencies, employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, military, regional authorities, organizations. A sufficient number of volunteers have also arrived today.
At the moment, over two thousand people are taking part in the search for the boy. We divided the volunteers into organized groups in order to more effectively use the opportunities of people. Foresters, employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, ROVD have been added to these groups, and now search and rescue activities are actively underway.
- Are there any clues and traces?
- We are already returning to those places that were surveyed earlier, now the territory is quite well-trodden, there are many traces,- noted the chief of staff. - If the traces are of interest, the information goes to the headquarters. A mobile group leaves for this place and in detail examines the territory where traces were found, and the information is transmitted to the headquarters. At the moment, all the information received has been verified - there is no result. We are working on various versions, but the main working version is the version that the boy got lost in the forest.
- Are there any other options being considered besides the forest?
- The marshland is considered. Literally today, information was received about a wetland area where abandoned buildings are located. A mobile group left there, we dropped it off from a helicopter, and specialists checked this area.
- Is there any criminal version being worked out? Maybe the boy was stolen, or did he run away?
- These versions are being worked out by law enforcement officers. In accordance with the legislation of the Republic of Belarus, 10 days after submitting an application to the internal affairs bodies, all information is transferred to the Investigative Committee. And already he initiates a criminal case.
- Are there any search standards? After how many days does the search stop?
- As such, there is no established standard. The search will continue regardless of the result that is obtained and will be obtained in the future. Maybe not such forces will be involved, but operational-search measures will be carried out. The limitation period for such cases is significant.
Ministry of Emergency Situations and volunteers: combing the territory within a radius where a person could reach, even looking at 100 kilometers
In the afternoon, the Ministry of Emergency Situations has a task for aviation - to work out points. The bottom line is simple: the drone flies, and the thermal imager captures "warm objects". After some time, the drone returns to its place.
And if he fixes the point again, then a special mobile group is already sent there, which searches the area, including hard-to-reach areas such as islands in swamps and so on.
- This work is going on now, - stressed in the Ministry of Emergency Situations. - We choose the radius based on how many people can pass during this time. Yes, we also take 100 kilometers for insurance.
The second task is the coordination of volunteers. More than once or twice in the groups of the search and rescue squad they said that there are a lot of people, but there are not enough coordinators.
Today, at about 10 am, the volunteers were divided into small groups of 30-40 people. Together with them, they sent coordinators - foresters, employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations. By the way, the latter employs about 140 people, these are rescuers not only from Grodno, but also from Brest regions. The guys lined up and went to comb the forest.
- Pay attention to any caches, hiding places, burrows, - the curators explain to the volunteers. - If you are lagging behind or are faced with a hard-to-reach place, tell the curator, and he stops the whole chain. Clear?
- The girl tried to literally crawl into the house and ask questions to her parents,- said Alla Goncharevich, director of the Novodvorsk secondary school. - Now the parents have decided not to communicate with the press.
Supplemented. Law enforcers: "Misinformation was spread more than once"
- At about 3 pm, the volunteers came across some things. They were handed over to Maxim's parents, but the things were not his,- told Onliner.by representatives of the Internal Affairs Directorate of the Grodno Regional Executive Committee. Neither the volunteers nor the aviation found any more leads.
At 20:00 on September 23, 2017, the boy was not found. Volunteers are currently looking for an overnight stay in an agro-town, many will spend the night in tents. They will be able to continue their search tomorrow.
At 21:24 on the website of the Internal Affairs Directorate of the Grodno Regional Executive Committee, the final information on the results of today appeared. Law enforcers summarize: a week of searches did not yield any results.
- For today, the already combed places have been worked out once again. Large forces are thrown into checking all the pits that are located near the village - the press service of the ATC reports. - Deputy Head of the Internal Affairs Directorate of the Grodno Regional Executive Committee Alexander Shastailo noted that today law enforcement officers once again went around all the houses in the village, checked attics and wells, and housing and communal services employees checked sewer manholes in order to exclude the possibility of a child getting there.
- It's nice to see how such events can bring people together. More than two thousand people came in search of Maxim from neighboring regions, - noted in the ATC. - Volunteers, the Red Cross, employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, despite the weekend, came to provide assistance. And some, who could not come, help financially; a lot of food, water and essential goods have been brought for the volunteers. All this was received from caring citizens.
According to law enforcement officers, they are working out all possible versions and checking any information that comes to the headquarters.
- Once again, I would like to focus on the problem of spreading false information, - warns ATC. - On some resources, they found news where they expressed condolences to the parents, since the boy was found dead in the noose. There was also news that EMERCOM officers saw him while flying in a helicopter, and he disappeared from them.
This information is not true. Each of those people who are there makes every effort to find Maxim. This kind of information can undermine the morale of people who work hard. And it's scary to imagine how parents and relatives will feel after reading this kind of misinformation.
The search for the missing Maxim Markhalyuk continues.