By Oliver Bullough and Andrei Shukshin
MOSCOW (Reuters) - All but two of the 117 hostages so far confirmed dead in the Moscow theater siege died of gas poisoning, the city's top doctor said Sunday.
Andrei Seltsovsky, chairman of the health committee of the city of Moscow, said only one of the around 800 hostages had died from gunshot wounds when elite troops stormed the musical theater early Saturday.
Asked what the others had died from, he said: "From the effects of the gas exposure."
One man had been shot dead during the operation to free the captives. The second to die of gunshot wounds was a woman shot while trying to escape when the theater was seized by around 50 Chechen guerrillas Wednesday night.
Seltsovsky told a news conference that 646 of the freed hostages were still in hospital, of whom 150 were in intensive care and 45 were "in a grave condition."
The unidentified chemical was so powerful that the Chechen suicide fighters had no time to detonate the explosives strapped to their waists.
Sergei, 36, who declined to give his family name, told Reuters after he was released from hospital that the gas had smelled slightly bitter. Chemical warfare experts say nerve gas often smells of bitter almonds.
London-based security expert, Michael Yardley, said he believed the gas used was BZ, a colorless, odorless incapacitant with hallucinogenic properties, first used by the United States in Vietnam.
He said the symptoms displayed by the hostages in Moscow -- inability to walk, memory loss, fainting, heartbeat irregularities, sickness -- all pointed to BZ. According to the U.S. army the side effects last 60 hours, Yardley said.
"The Russians wouldn't want a big shout about it because it (BZ) is just the sort of stuff they are not supposed to have," he said. "It's not specifically banned, but...it is in a sort of gray area."
MOUTHS WIDE OPEN
Film taken after the special forces stormed the theater to free more than 750 hostages showed a woman slumped back on a chair with her mouth wide open and a bag of explosives tied to her front.
"A panic went up among us and people were screaming, 'Gas! gas!' and, yes, there was shooting," theater director Georgy Vasilyev, one of the hostages, told Reuters.
"But then everyone fell down quickly. And then I was told by one woman while we were in hospital together, but who didn't fall asleep immediately because she covered her mouth and nose, that it was very strange to look at everyone.
"You see, when the shooting began, they (the rebels) told us to lean forward in the theater seats and cover our heads behind the seats. But then everyone fell asleep. And they (the rebels) were sitting there with their heads thrown back and their mouths wide open."
Though the government says it freed over 750 hostages it has not given any information on how many were hospitalized nor how many were affected by the gas.
One hostage told Interfax news agency that he saw the guerrillas convulse and slump because of gas.
"After the first shots at the hostages gas came in, I saw how a terrorist sitting at the scene jumped up and tried to get a respirator. I saw how he convulsed and tried to put the mask to his face and then fell," the unidentified witness said.
REPORTS OF GAS DEATHS
A Health Ministry official quoted by Interfax confirmed that 118 hostages had died, with 50, or nearly all of, their captors.
Earlier, Russian officials said the gas was the "special means" to stop the guerrillas from blowing up the theater. The guerrillas had threatened to start killing hostages if Moscow did not withdraw its troops from their homeland.
In Moscow, distraught relatives begged for information on loved ones, and police checked cars, passengers and luggage to prevent a feared repeat attack.
Police said they could not immediately confirm a report on Sunday that police in Moscow had charged three Chechens with involvement in preparations for the hostage-taking.
Local television said police detained a Chechen woman who had been in hospital on suspicion of involvement in the attack.
The heightened security meant that many Russians could not get in to see relatives being treated in hospitals.
"They carried out the operation to the end, but they haven't worked out what to do for the relatives. Many cannot find their family members," said Anatoly Belayusov, whose 28-year-old daughter Lyubov was missing after the siege.
FORGIVENESS
President Vladimir Putin asked for forgiveness from the relatives of the dead.
He declared Monday a national day of mourning as dozens of sympathizers left flowers and cards on a low wall near the theater. Officers in camouflage and with sniffer dogs entered the building to check for booby traps.
Chechnya's fugitive rebel president, Aslan Maskhadov, condemned the siege, saying he rejected "terror as a method of reaching any goals."
A senior aide to Maskhadov said the drama meant Moscow had to choose between talking to gunmen or the man elected president of the breakaway North Caucasus republic in 1997. He warned there could be more such attacks.
<http://reuters.com/news_article.jhtml?type=worldnews&StoryID=1638885> *****
***** Moscow Hostages Killed by 'Poison' Gas
CTV News Staff
...About 646 of the freed hostages are still in hospital, of whom 150 were in intensive care and 45 in a "grave condition." Doctors at a Moscow hospital said they were admitted following treatment for poisoning by an unknown agent.
"Their (the 45 patients') condition is poor. All were poisoned with an unknown gas, an unknown poison," Vladimir Ryabinin, a doctor at Moscow's top emergency Sklifosovsky hospital, told reporters.
Families are reportedly not being allowed to see their loved ones in hospital and there is a state-imposed press blackout on their conditions.
Reports abound that security forces who stormed the building first pumped in a paralyzing nerve agent.
Russian law enforcement officials have denied the use of any such agent, saying it was simply a sleeping gas. But a source involved in treating the survivors revealed to CTV News, on condition of anonymity, that many of the hostages are in critical condition, the result of exposure to a serious poison.
CTV's Ellen Pinchuk in Moscow said there are reports that is was a paralyzing nerve gas developed by the Russian secret service which may have been used in too high of a concentration.
"Experts we spoke to said . . . that they (the Russian army) didn't even know how properly to administer the antidote," Pinchuk said. "The hospitals didn't even have the proper antidote. It looks like somewhat of a botched job."
Unconfirmed reports said the gas used was BZ, a colourless, odourless incapacitant with hallucinogenic properties. It was first used by the U.S. in Vietnam. Whatever the gas was, it was so powerful that the rebels had no time to activate a series of bombs that were strategically placed throughout the theatre building.
Most of the Chechen rebels, who were demanding Russian troops pull out of their homeland, died in the counter-attack. The guerrilla commander, Movsar Barayev, was among those killed.
Questions, however, are being raised about whether the assault was really necessary.
Journalist Anna Politkovskaya, who regularly writes about the Chechen war, said there could have been a better way to get the captives released. "I think that if the president's daughter had been in that theatre, he would have found the words that were being asked of him," said Politkovskaya, who was asked by the guerillas to participate in negotiations. "The problem is that the Kremlin wall is high and thick . . . and they didn't see or hear the parents who had children in the theatre."...
<http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1035727569373_57/?hub=World> ***** -- Yoshie
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