He saved a 6-month-old girl from a terrorist attack: after 20 years, he shows up for her graduation
The events in Beslan, a city in North Ossetia, an autonomous republic in the Caucasus region, in the Russian Federation, are still very painful and bring the parents and relatives of the victims who were caught up in the terrible terrorist attack that took place in a school, back in 2004, to tears and anger. In Eastern Europe everyone remembers this tragic event which was perpetrated by a group of 32 terrorists, Islamic fundamentalists and Chechen separatists, who broke into Beslan school number 1, between 1 ° and September 3, 2004. There were at least 300 victims, including many children - one of the darkest pages of contemporary history, of which perhaps too little is still spoken. In such a tragic event, we can still find a small beacon of hope: a little girl, who was only 6 months old at the time, was saved by a Russian special forces soldier and today, almost 20 years after the massacre, she has happily graduated.
After the Beslan massacre, all the major international newspapers began to publish the image of a soldier holding a 6-month-old baby in his arms. At the time, no one knew the name of the man or the baby girl, but that photo became a tragic symbol, forever linked to those terrible events. Today we know their names: he, Elbrus Gogichayev was a soldier in the Russian special armed forces, while the little one is Alyona Tsekayeva. The man rescued that little girl and today, thanks to the rescue, he was happy to witness her graduation day. To tell the truth, after that tragic day, Elbrus kept in touch with the little girl's family, to find out how she was doing and what progress she was making in school. He never missed any big event and, therefore, he also showed up on her graduation day.
That day, Elbrus took the baby to the district administration building, hoping her parents would be there. The little girl never cried, for as long as she was in the man's arms, but when Elbrus handed her over, she started to cry. After learning that the child's mother had died during the terrorist attack, the man proposed adopting the child and welcomed her into his family as if she were his daughter. Shortly thereafter, however, he discovered that the girl still had a father. Since then, Elbrus has kept in touch with Alena's family very often, to find out how the little girl is doing.
The two met again, for the first time, in 2014: 10 years after the heartbreaking tragedy. Today, after many years, Alena has graduated and her savior was back there with her, ready to celebrate another important moment in her life.
It's an incredible story, isn't it?
