6 February 2004 year
A suicide bomber detonated a bomb between the Avtozavodskaya and Paveletskaya stations. 42 were killed and 250 were injured. It was one of the worst terrorist attacks in the history of the Moscow metro.
There was no door in the second car—it had been knocked out into the first car. There was no light. What I saw there was shocking. Piles of human bodies piled on top of each other, cries for help. The passengers felt like they were caught in a meat grinder. (Train driver Vladimir Gorelov)
The explosion occurred at 8:32 a.m., during rush hour. The train was traveling toward central Moscow, its carriages packed to capacity with 1,500 passengers.
The first car was overcrowded, and people late for work were barely squeezing into the second car. That's where the 20-year-old terrorist was. Anzor Izhaev, who was trained in the detachment Shamil Basaeva and by that time he was already on the federal wanted list.
Izhaev's backpack contained a homemade bomb equivalent to 3 kg of TNT. The shrapnel consisted of a thousand bolts purchased at a hardware store on Kashirskoye Highway.
On the appointed day, Izhaev calmly put on his backpack, put his player in his ears, boarded the train, and at the appointed moment, flipped the switch (from the testimony of accomplice Tambiy Khubiev)
The explosion was so powerful that a piece of the second car's roof was smashed into the tunnel ceiling. The third car was crushed by the blast wave that reflected off the concrete walls, literally folding like an accordion.
In the first car, the shock wave reached the driver's cabin, dented the door and knocked out the windshield.
Passengers in the second car were torn to pieces and scattered across the tracks. Many died from barotrauma and wounds (Novye Izvestia, citing a source in the investigative team).
The train car was packed—everyone was getting ready to exit at the ring road. The second car acted as a human shield—the blast wave got caught in the crowd (recollections of a surviving passenger).
Immediately after the explosion, the driver Vladimir Gorelov He applied emergency braking, which helped prevent the fire from spreading. However, the tunnel was immediately filled with thick, acrid smoke: to avoid losing consciousness, people had to breathe through scarves and kerchiefs—they were soaked with whatever was at hand.
I take off my hat, pardon me, pee in it, and breathe through it, folded in half. Just like they taught me at the Ministry of Emergency Situations. Some people follow my example (recollections of a surviving passenger)
The competent actions of the Ministry of Emergency Situations colonel helped organize passengers and prevent panic. Sergei Kavunov, who was riding in the third carriage and took charge of the situation at the epicenter of the explosion.
A crowd always looks to its leader, and he, with his calm, intelligent commands, prevented hysteria from escalating. People who remain calm have a sobering effect on everyone (psychologist Mikhail Vinogradov)
The train doors opened three minutes after the explosion, when the high-voltage power to the overhead rail was cut off. Passengers in the rear cars walked through the tunnel to Avtozavodskaya station, about 300 meters away. Those in the front car had to exit the train through the driver's cab and walk several kilometers to Paveletskaya station.
As a result of the terrorist attack, 41 passengers were killed (plus the terrorist himself), 250 were injured. One of the dead was Egor Deev: A year before, he had, by a lucky chance, missed the rock festival in Tushino, where two female suicide bombers blew themselves up.
Following the explosion at Avtozavodskaya, authorities increased penalties for terrorist attacks, up to life imprisonment. All trains and metro stations were equipped with video cameras, a unified situational monitoring center, and an emergency passenger communications system were established.
However, this did not stop explosions in the Moscow metro: in March 2010, during a terrorist attack at the Park Kultury and Lubyanka stations, 37 people died.
We walked for about half an hour through a smoky tunnel to the platform. I wasn't scared: if I die, I die. It was frustrating. I want to leave this country (from the first comments of one of the surviving passengers)
