In February 1959, nine hikers were killed while trekking in the Ural Mountains. The Soviet government originally attributed a “compelling natural force” as the cause.
The journey to Mount Ortorten in Russia s Ural Mountains was supposed to take the hiking group a few weeks. They had no reason to expect otherwise: Most of the party s college-aged members, led by 23-year-old Igor Dyatlov, were experienced skiers and hikers. After completing the journey through the mountainous wilderness, they would have qualified for the highest hiking certification granted in the Soviet Union.
But the hikers never reached their destination. In February 1959, they went missing.
Searchers found the first bodies the remains of five of the hikers a few weeks later. They were in a disturbing state: Some were shoeless and nearly naked in the snow. Their well-stocked tent, hundreds of yards away, had been cut open from the inside, as if they had escaped in a hurry.