The other day, a schoolgirl turned eleven years old, who survived alone in the middle of the taiga seven years ago.
The four-year-old baby was left by her mother and grandmother in the care of her father, and they themselves went into the field to mow. Talina Chikitova came with her daughter to the village to her mother. They separated from her husband, but she did not prevent his meeting with the child. When the women returned, there was no one in the house.
In 2014, there was practically no cellular connection here, as in the neighboring village, where Talina’s ex-husband was from. The woman reasoned that he took the baby on leave to his relatives. But three days later, the man came back and his daughter was not with him.
As it turned out, he left while Karina was sleeping. Most likely, the child woke up alone and went to look for relatives. The girl got out of the house and, since at the height of summer the residents are busy with suffering, she left the village unhindered and headed for the taiga.
Even before the arrival of rescuers, a search group from neighboring settlements hastily gathered. Volunteers and professionals had no idea that a child at the age of four could be saved in such difficult natural conditions. Hordes of mosquitoes, wild animals and lack of food were a serious challenge even for an adult, besides, the child was lightly dressed, and nights in the taiga are not hot.
In general, people were hoping for a miracle with the last of their strength. Search teams combed the area within a radius of thirty kilometers, once they had to scare away a bear, but they could not find the child.
And on the ninth day, a young dog came running, he was still almost a puppy, he was called in Yakut Kid.
Exhausted, wet and very emaciated, he disappeared on the same day with Karina, but only now the owners remembered about it. A service dog was put on his trail, but only three days later rescuers were able to find the baby. She was lying in the tall grass and was the first to see volunteer Artem Borisov. The man could not hold back tears when the emaciated girl held out her hands to him.
She was immediately taken to the hospital, she was exhausted and bitten to the blood by mosquitoes. A little later, Karina explained to the adults that she ate berries and drank water, and at night she lay down in an embrace with her shaggy defender and friend. All this time, the puppy was nearby and even growled at times, protecting her from the beasts. The dog was named Naida, which means selfless, and a year later, a monument by sculptor Nikolai Chuchasov «Girl and Dog» was erected in front of the airport.
Today Karina studies at a closed choreographic college and only occasionally gets out to her grandmother to see her savior Naida, whom she misses very much.