wfn.org | ABCUSA--Baptist Children, Adults Among Beslan Victims

["SCHRAMM, Richard" <Richard.Schramm@abc-usa.org>]

Title: ABCUSA: Baptist Children, Adults Among Beslan Victims

American Baptist News Service (Valley Forge, Pa. 9/8/04)--Baptist children and adults were among the currently confirmed 338 fatalities in the hostage massacre last week at a school in Beslan, Russia.

Paul Montacute, director of Baptist World Aid, reported yesterday that "the tragedy of the hostage crisis in Beslan, Ossetia hit home to Baptists, with the Baptist pastor of the church losing three of his five children, and his brother, a church elder, and four of his children.  One of Pastor Sergei Totijev's surviving children is severely injured and the other has lost his sight. Four of elder Taimuras Totijev's children are still missing and only one is alive. Another Christian Baptist family, the Dzhioyevs, have lost one child."

Chechen separatists have been blamed by Russian authorities for the massacre, but no specific group has been identified or has taken responsibility for the action.  At least 100 people still are missing in the debris of the school and hundreds were seriously injured.

Montague reported that Baptist World Aid, the relief and development are of the Baptist World Alliance, "has been in constant communication with Mission Vera, one of its partners in the region, since the tragedy began. Mission Vera directors Yevgeniy and Nadia Zhigulin attended some of the children's
funerals on Monday, and talked of the grief felt by so many in this small Russian republic."

Mission Vera will assist in caring for the physical and psychological needs of the children and their families. "There are a lot of families in Beslan...who have many children, but they are needy ones," said
Zhigulin. "During the days of deep grief our (Mission Vera) employees leave for Beslan for funerals of victims, providing material assistance where needed."

In recent years Mission Vera has been active in the region, working with BWAid and Hungarian Baptist Aid to help those in need in Chechnya, and Chechens living in neighboring republics.

K/2004ABNS/04ABN105

American Baptist News Service: Office of Communication, American Baptist Churches USA, P.O. Box 851, Valley Forge, PA 19482-0851; (800)ABC-3USA x2077 / (610)768-2077; fax: (610)768-2320; www.abc-usa.org; richard.schramm@abc-usa.org