9 experience Russian hikers go missing in the mountains
Investigation: * Six of the group members died of hypothermia and three of fatal injuries. * There were no indications of other people nearby apart from the nine travellers on Kholat Syakhl, nor anyone in the surrounding areas. * The tent had been ripped from within. * The victims had died 6 to 8 hours after their last meal. * Traces from the camp showed that all group members (including those who were found injured) left the camp of their own accord, by foot. This implies that those with injuries were injured after they left the camp. * The fatal injuries of the three bodies could not have been caused by another human being. * Forensic radiation tests had shown high doses of radioactive contamination on the clothes of a few victims. These test results were not taken into account for the final verdict.
Other Notes: * Some reconstructions of the victims' behavior suggest that they were blinded. The rescue team had seen that the victims broke damp and thick pine branches for the fire, even though there was good dry brushwood around. * Some objects found near the camp were not identified as properties of any of the group members. * One victim, Dubunina, had no tongue. * One victims chest was crushed * One victims face was smashed
"[edit] Facts ignored by official inquest Some researchers point out the following facts which were missed, perhaps ignored, by officials:
After the funerals, relatives of the deceased claimed that the skin of the victims had a strange orange tan, and that the dead were completely grey-haired. A former investigating officer said, in a private interview, that his dosimeter had shown a high radiation level on Kholat Syakhl, and that this was the reason for the radiation found on the bodies. However, the source of the contamination was not found. Another group of hikers (about 50 kilometers south of the accident) reported that they saw strange orange spheres in the night sky to the north (likely the direction of in Kholat Syakhl) at the same date as the accident happened. Similar "spheres" were observed in Ivdel and adjacent areas continually in the period February to March 1959, by various independent witnesses (including the meteorology service and the military). The search team reported that they had observed the same spheres above Kholat Syakhl on March 31. Some reconstructions of the victims' behavior suggest that they were blinded. The rescue team had seen that the victims broke damp and thick pine branches for the fire, even though there was good dry brushwood around. Some objects found near the camp were not identified as properties of any of the group members. "+
The infrasound theory makes a lot of sense, but it still doesn't explain the no tongue or crushed bodies. I'm chalking this up to the crazy Soviet Union. We'll never know what happened...most witnesses/evidence collected were probably destroyed, ignored, or glossed over.