23:18, 23 April 2003

About 5 metres are left to access a tunnel entry in Kardamon Gorge

The hole in the Kardamon Gorge leading to the tunnel where people could stay after the Kolka glacier had descended has been bored to the depth of 65 metres.

?As experts estimate, the depth of the hope is to be about seventy metres for the twenty-second hole to reach an air hole of the tunnel?, the representative of the command of the South Regional Center of the Russian Ministry for Emergency Situations (MES) Oleg Grekov reported of Wednesday.

According to the data of the Center, 76 people take part in operations in the Kardamon Gorge. 21 of them are professional rescuers of the MES and 30 ? volunteers from among victim?s relatives.

On September 20, 2002 the gigantic Kolka glacier went down the Kardamon Gorge in North Osetia. 19 bodies were found during the search work. 17 of them were identified. 108 people have gone missing. 26 of them were members of the film crew of Sergey Bodrov Jr. They arrived to the republic for movie making.

Source: Interfax News Agency