Most large-scale searches Maxim Markhaliuk, who disappeared, continues. There is still no consensus on “what really happened to the boy?”. The inhabitants of the village of Novy Dvor and everyone who follows this story has their own version of what is happening. One of the participants in the search for Maxim decided to put all the versions together and talk about it.

So. Before digging into such a furious topic, I simply have to make a number of explanations. The next paragraph is dedicated to just that. You can sleep for now.

I didn’t want to write about this topic, but you can’t command your heart. For the last two days, I, like many other Belarusians, have been captured by one huge detective. The whole country sincerely worries about the boy, although the mind has long understood everything (I would like it to be wrong). This is not an attempt to hype on a hot topic. But when a text has been written willy-nilly in the head for the last 48 hours, it is impossible not to release it. Anticipating a lot of questions: yes, he helped the search, transferred money to PSO "Angel".

I tried to abstract as much as possible from conclusions and value judgments. I won't blame anyone. All the coincidences that have happened in the past, are happening now and will happen in the future, are random. I don't have any insiders. None of the versions (except the official one) from this text should be taken into account by law enforcement and other related authorities. I, like all of you, hope for a successful outcome. All my work on this topic was that, armed with a tablet and a margin of time, I collected information on the Internet, Special attention giving comments, reading even the wildest. The result is a list of versions, each of which I will try to diversify. Go!

  1. Version aboutofficial: the boy is lost

In favor of the version:

Yes, you look, in the end, where it all happened! On the edge of Belovezhskaya Pushcha! I repeat: BELOVEZHSKAYA FOREST! For a second, one of the largest (if not the largest) relic forest in Europe! All the nonsense about the fact that the boy “couldn’t get lost”, “knew the forest like the back of his hand”, “brought the mushroom pickers out” (I can directly imagine how the boy, instead of the rescuers, runs into the forest to lead the mushroom pickers out). He who cannot swim never drowns. For he does not climb into the water, but sits on the bank, dangling his leg. And only good, experienced swimmers drown. Because self-confident. Even adults get lost in three pines, and this is a child! The video from the scene clearly shows how overgrown the forest is in those places. And the wording “Searched everything within walking distance of the child” does not hold water at all. Who measured it, that reach. He wants to - and 100 kilometers will pass. Adrenaline and stress take their toll. Several traces were found, although it is difficult to say that they definitely belong to Maxim. But on the spot there were many traces of bison, which could frighten the boy and he rushed from them into the thicket.

Against version:

There is no need to even say anything here. Just look at the map.

Despite the fact that the village is surrounded on all sides by forest, it is not that big. Even on Yandex Maps, you can see that there are enough white spots in the forest. Add to this great amount paths, clearings, wandering rangers and foresters, camera traps, etc. Even if the boy just starts walking in one direction, in less than a day he will come out into the light of God. They began to look for him practically at once, shouting, signaling, but no answers. According to the volunteers, the forest was encircled over time and combed completely. That is, the boy simply cannot be in the forest, both alive and dead. The only exception is that a child could drown in a swamp - although in this case there must be at least some traces! And why should a child go to the forest at dusk? We add here the testimony of his brother: "He did not go anywhere far alone." How this fits in with "Knew the forest like his own pocket" is still unclear. The purple line on the map from one point to another is only 16 km long. As for the bison: why didn’t I run towards the village, along the road along which I came, but let me in? Did the bison learn tactics and encircle the child, cutting off the path to retreat?

2. Semi-official version: the boy is hiding

In favor of the version:

There were several witnesses who clearly testified: they saw the boy. Alive and healthy. Once he was seen by a mushroom picker literally right after the boy disappeared. Allegedly, he asked him why the boy was walking alone in the forest at such a time, to which the boy, without saying anything, rushed to run away. Then two more times the volunteers said that they saw a boy running in the distance. Each of us knows stories about how children, afraid of what they have done, do not go home. The boy could simply be afraid of punishment, seeing the scale of the search. Again, remember about the traces. Also, places were found in the forest where the boy, presumably, could spend the night. Maxim's friends recalled some secret dugout in the depths of the thicket. The boy may be there. As a subsection of this version, they put forward the theory that the boy could set off on a journey. Theoretically, even cross the border with Poland.

Against version:

After all, 10 days have passed. You can hide for a day, well, two or three, but not a week and a half. And who saw those witnesses who noticed him? Either fiction, or not discerned. Moreover, in one of the cases of "witness testimony" the boy ran across the road and slipped through the soldiers in chains. I know the opinion of the people about the army, but there are not total (and at the same time deaf-blind) idiots serving. Haven't you seen or heard? Unlikely. The child has absolutely nothing to eat and drink. He has nowhere (most likely) to sleep, and the nights are cold. All the buildings where the child could spend the night have been checked - he is not there. It is not very realistic to cross the border - it is guarded from both sides.

3. Criminal version: a crime has been committed

In favor of the version:

It's all pure speculation here. Why did the child throw the bicycle on the ground without even leaning it against the hut (according to fellow villagers and parents, he loved the bicycle very much). What kind of strange broken basket stands next to the hut, where, as if to divert eyes, they threw the first mushrooms with garbage? According to cynologists, the dog's trail is confidently traced by dogs to the track, where it evaporates in an unknown direction. If the child went on the track, then there is absolutely nothing to say that he was lost. Do you think there are a lot of paved roads in those parts and the boy did not know where he was? Nothing was found in the forest at all, that is, literally. None of the crumbs that were found can be exactly related to the boy. They say that in those parts, half of the population earns by poaching, and half by moonshine. The boy could just see something wrong. Or become a victim of chance: at dusk to be hit by a car or shot by mistake with a gun. God forbid, of course. Or be taken out all to the same Poland.

Against version:

The police have been on the scene since the beginning. I believe that all necessary criminological measures were taken at that time. I once saw a search for a missing person. They turn the house and buildings upside down, shake all the witnesses and neighbors, restore the path of the missing. Do not think that this time the police blundered. And any crime leaves traces. Explicit or implicit. Blood, signs of a struggle, pieces of clothing, some other evidence. Nothing was found this time.


The hut where Maxim Markhaliuk disappeared
Old basket with bad mushrooms

4. Conspiracy version: something doesn't fit here

in favor of the version:

The inconsistencies start from the very beginning. When did the boy disappear? Someone says that he warned about mushrooms (older brother), someone says that they did not know anything about mushrooms (mother). Friends also differ in testimony: either the boy called them, but they refused, or they went together, but he went on. Yes, and the story of the mushrooms looks very strange. The boy allegedly went to pick mushrooms at the edge of the forest around 19.00 in the evening. For the sake of the experiment, gentlemen, go outside tonight at 19.00 pm and look at the level of illumination. Next: mushrooms on the edge. While the hut where the bicycle was found is either five hundred or eight hundred meters from the edge of the forest. That is, the child went at night looking into the forest for a kilometer away (this is a lot within the forest) in order to pick mushrooms by touch? Some of the witnesses say: the boy was shy, even stuttered, could be frightened of animals and rush into the thicket. Gentlemen, who is not shy: would you dare to go into the thicket at dusk a kilometer deep? I'll tell you right now - I couldn't. Scary. It is followed by very ambiguous versions. Allegedly, a local village madwoman approached the members of the search party and quietly muttered: “Look, look, you won’t find it anyway.” Someone talks about Maxim's friends who faint during their interrogation by the police and that one teenager's parents simply do not allow to be interrogated, insisting that there is no criminal case. Allegedly, someone saw a teenager, one of the acquaintances of the missing boy, who was returning from the forest at night. What he could see there is unclear. There is even talk of some mysterious house that the volunteers tried to enter, but it was locked from the inside. When the door was broken down, no one was in the house. There are so many inconsistencies that the post threatens to turn into a sheet.

Against version:

It is possible that all this is nothing more than the imagination of our people. All of us from childhood are prone to inventions and fantasies. Moreover, nothing can be checked in the comments at all. People just copy-paste erroneous versions to more and more publics. I don't think it's all that confusing. And seemingly unrealistic versions are simply not covered enough in the press, often people are content with such forums and fragmentary tales of volunteers who visited the place. Stories about crazy houses locked from the inside (well, who in their right mind would break the door of a house where the curtain just swayed on the window?), nightly adventures of children seem even more unreal than the mysterious disappearance itself.

5. Military version: we have the same exercises

In favor of the version:

All this may be nothing more than an exercise in interaction civil society and various services. According to rumors, no one saw either the boy's parents or his brother. Journalists do not communicate with them, where they are really unclear. It is possible that there simply was no disappearance. Rumors of this kind were once confirmed in Russia. And, by the way, remember that very girl from Mexico, who allegedly fell under a collapsed building and whom they tried to get out of the rubble for days. As a result, the girl turned out to be a fiction created to distract the people from trouble. A completely wild version, also inspired by the exercises: the boy accidentally saw a reconnaissance group of fighters of some foreign state, which returned after observing the exercises. No one is left alive during such meetings, and the bodies are carefully hidden. Moreover, near the border with Poland, through which the fighters could pass.

Maxim Markhaliuk went missing on September 16, 2017. Now the search for the boy is still ongoing, although not conducted in such a way. big amount people like in September. Nobody is going to close the criminal case. They are engaged in a special group, which includes 6 investigators and police officers. About how the search for the boy is going now, about working with psychics and volunteers, and about the versions that the investigation is considering, one of the leaders of the USC in the Grodno region told tut.by. And Maxim's mother, five months after the disappearance of the child, is still waiting for her son to go home.

Maxim's day before his disappearance, investigators say, was "more than usual". The boy walked on the street, met his peers several times, called them to the forest to pick mushrooms, went with a friend to the “base”, where he nailed some boards in a hut. Last time his mother saw him at about 18.15 - the boy was riding a bicycle along the street near the house.

Everything was as always. And then the child disappeared.

His search began immediately, that same evening, as soon as his mother called the police. Law enforcement officers arrived at the scene - the police and the investigation, a little later, employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations and the military began to comb the forest. Then the volunteers joined in.

“The version with the accident was checked immediately”

Two main versions were immediately put forward: an accident happened to the child (he got lost and is in the forest) and a criminal one, - says Deputy Head of the Investigative Committee for the Grodno Region, Colonel of Justice Victor Legan.

According to him, a rescue operation took place in the first two weeks: they were looking for a living child.

The search began from the moment he was reported missing. First, he was searched for by police officers and the Ministry of Emergency Situations, the military. Used and aviation technology- autogyro (gyrocopter), three helicopters, an airplane and three drones with thermal imagers. Volunteers to the search pulled themselves up when the topic had already spread with the help of social networks and the media.

In parallel, a criminal version was worked out. As part of it, they began to locate people who could be in the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe theoretical crime scene. Previously convicted, released, mentally unhealthy and those who fell into the field of view of the police were checked. For example, those who committed sexual crimes. First, those who could be close to the place of the disappearance of the boy were checked, and later all those who live not only in the Grodno region, but throughout Belarus.

“Now more than five thousand people have been checked for involvement in the disappearance of the child”

These are the categories of people that I named earlier, as well as those who simply could be in the area where the boy disappeared. We have not received any information that could help us. But work in this direction is still ongoing. Including using a polygraph. Now, as before, we are considering these two main versions. As part of them, we also check private subversions.

- For example?

For example, Maxim was a victim of an accident. For some reason, this version is now on everyone's lips. But we checked it out right away. We inspected all the roads that pass through the forest, established the owners of all vehicles seen there in various ways, both private traders and carrier organizations. We talked with drivers using a polygraph. Then they examined every car that, according to our information, could be in the area where the boy disappeared. The cars were checked using forensic techniques to identify traces of biological origin, as well as traces of damage to the car, characteristic of an accident.

Here, too, no important information was obtained.

- Was the version of the involvement of one of the relatives in the disappearance of Maxim considered?

Naturally, at the time of the initiation of the criminal case, we checked all versions without exception and did not disregard all the people who communicated with the child and theoretically could be involved in his disappearance. But there was no information that any of the relatives could be involved in the disappearance of Maxim. If we had even the slightest suspicion on this score, then a criminal case would have been initiated on other elements of the crime, and not on the unknown disappearance of a person.

- And why was the case initiated only ten days after the disappearance of the boy?

A criminal case on the fact of the disappearance of a person is initiated 10 days after the receipt of the application, if the search activities have not brought any results. This is the law. But in fact, the date of the initiation of the case does not mean anything: the investigators, along with the police officers, began to conduct operational-search activities immediately. It does not matter whether a criminal case has been initiated or not, such events are carried out in any case and investigators immediately participate in the search.

At what stage is the investigation of the criminal case now? Are the searches for the boy going on now and do they make sense?

Search activities have not been terminated. Of course, they are not held as actively as before, but this is solely due to weather conditions. Militiamen, military and operational officers of the Criminal Investigation Department of the Internal Affairs Directorate periodically leave for Novy Dvor. Employees of the Svisloch District Department of Internal Affairs and an investigator who is included in the investigation team searching for Maxim are always on the spot. Periodically, about once a month, meetings are held on the spot, during which we summarize the intermediate results of what has been done and what needs to be done. The criminal case is under control in the Central Office of the Investigative Committee, and the course of the search is under the personal control of the First Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs.

THE "BASE" SHUT WHERE THE CHILD'S BICYCLE WAS FOUND.

Maxim was afraid of animals, did not swim well and did not navigate the terrain

At the same time, they worked out a non-criminal version, says Colonel Victor Legan.

If we take into account that the boy was lost in the forest, then first of all we checked the swamps and nearby reservoirs with the help of divers.

Of course, I would very much like to believe that the boy is alive, but all the experts we talked to say that irreversible processes can occur in the body of a child of his age within seven hours, which in turn can lead to death. That is, theoretically, if in those weather conditions the child lay down under a tree and fell asleep, then it is likely that he could develop pneumonia with the corresponding consequences.

BROWN DESIGNATES SQUARE WHERE POLICE, EMERCOM AND MILITARY STAFF WORKED, YELLOW - VOLUNTEERS.
PHOTO: KATERINA GORDEEVA, TUT.BY

We also considered the version that he could be frightened of some animal. Here on the map shows the habitat of those animals that are found in the nearby forests. For example, elk, bison, lynx. Despite the fact that Maxim free time spent near the forest or in the forest, he had problems with orientation in the area. There were cases when he got lost, he was also afraid of animals and did not swim well. The boy almost drowned in 2016 - his friends pulled him out of the reservoir.

It can be assumed that he, in a state of passion after a fright, could go to the swamp. In that area, swamps and swamps with a depth of three or more meters. What could - all checked. Even hard-to-reach areas were explored - as far as our capabilities were enough.

- Did only police officers, the Investigative Committee and the Ministry of Emergency Situations work in the swampy area, or were volunteers also?

Volunteers were not allowed there. Only employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, the military, and the police worked in the area of ​​​​the alleged place of the disappearance of the boy. It was important not to miss any details. Here you need a professional look. I can assure you that for the entire distance of his possible route, we have explored every centimeter of the earth.

“All of us together walked 200 square kilometers with our feet. Probably, only with the exception of the bottom of the marshes "

We even exceeded the science-based capabilities of an 11-year-old child: even if he wanted to run away, such a long distance that was examined, he could not do it.

- Did the volunteers interfere with all this work? How do you assess the interaction with the search teams?

This is not the first time a person has gone missing when volunteers are involved in the search. But more often than not, we find people in the first few days or weeks. Here it turned out differently. Boy not found time runs, people began to come to Pushcha in groups. Volunteers did not interfere and, of course, they could not trample any traces. They did their job well in those squares where the security forces did not work. Truly, we are very grateful to all those people who responded and came in search of Maxim.

“We considered all versions. Probably other than aliens."

What about psychics? We know that during the search for Maxim Markhaliuk, they offered their help and talked about places where they could look for the boy. Were their versions taken into account?

We worked out many private versions. And, of course, they listened to psychics as well. We have accumulated three volumes of information shared by caring citizens (one volume - about 250 sheets. - Approx. TUT.BY).

“Dozens of people wrote and called who “consulted with the cosmos”, who “knew exactly the whereabouts of the child”

We responded to each such message. For example, we get information that a certain lady persistently calls Maxim's family and says that she received information from a psychic and knows where the boy is. We find a psychic. She says she didn't tell anyone. Yes, I talked to the lady, but only suggested that my parents, if they were interested, talk to her. We find a lady. We ask where the information comes from. She replies that she was at the reception of a psychic on personal issues and at the same time asked about Maxim. “And by the way the psychic rolled her eyes, I thought she knew something,” the woman says. And there were many such calls. We have worked on each of them and will continue to work if we receive any new information. Psychics certainly do not harm us, but if they helped - and I personally do not know of a single case where a clairvoyant helped solve a crime - then we would have worked for a long time.

- What are the most exotic versions did the investigators have to check?

The most exotic are already covered in the media. Probably with the exception of aliens.

For example, there was a version that the boy was “taken apart for organs” somewhere in Lodz. On it, we interacted with our Polish colleagues. They sent them an international order, and the local police examined those institutions where Maxim could allegedly be. They talked to doctors. The version has not been confirmed. Like the story about the boy in the Polish driver's van. On it, we also worked closely with Polish law enforcement officers.

“Moreover, initially we interacted with the Polish border guards and we can say with confidence: the boy did not leave the territory of Belarus”

Anyway, technical means controls did not record the fact of crossing the border.

We checked two German citizens who were hunting in Belovezhskaya Pushcha at that time on our territory. We sent an international assignment to our German colleagues, and they talked with the hunters.

Belarusian tactics and methods of carrying out operational-search and investigative measures to search for the missing are among the most advanced in Europe, investigators say. “If someone disappears there, then they are searched for on the territory of only one country, but we put our missing people on the interstate wanted list.”

“I don’t believe in any of the versions”

Now the New Court, wrapped in fog and snow, lives its quiet and measured life. The village, where in September volunteers and searchers from all over Belarus gathered, returned to its usual way of life. Truth, locals still discuss what happened and express the most various versions. But the mother of the missing boy does not lean towards any of them: “I don’t want to believe in any of the versions and I’m waiting for my son to go home.”

MOTHER MAXIM - VALENTINA.
PHOTO: KATERINA GORDEEVA, TUT.BY

Valentina is silent for a long time. We are standing on the porch of the house. The woman is going to work. She, as before, works at a local school as a technician and ran home for lunch.

What can I tell you? the woman finally asks. - That the investigation was poorly conducted, so the child has not yet been found? No, I can’t say that - the investigators worked and are working. I am not an expert to evaluate their activities. And the search was carefully organized. I am very grateful to the volunteers, who all that time were not only in the forest, but also came to me, supported, talked.

- And now you have someone to talk to?

I have almost no friends. Of course, we discuss the loss of Maxim with relatives. They sympathize, but each of them has his own life. Therefore, often we are left alone with my husband. It is especially hard to be at home, where everything reminds you of your son, but he is not.

Valentina says that she knows and even read the comments in thematic groups looking for the boy in social networks. He says that some of the remarks become insulting when they, the parents, are blamed for the disappearance of the child.

If only they knew how we feel...

- At some point, psychics joined the search. Did they help you?

Yes, many clairvoyants came. But have you heard their versions?

“According to them, Maxim has long been buried, killed, buried in the forest, or he was taken somewhere in a car. I don’t even want to hear these versions.”

There were many psychics in the first days after the disappearance of Maxim, and now none of them come to us.

- What do you think about the disappearance of your son? Which version do you prefer?

I think nothing. I do not believe in any of the versions. How many there were, and what they just did not come up with! By the way, Maxim did not know the forest well, as many here said. So, only this edge, - my mother points towards the forest, which comes close to two-story houses. - I just believe that he will come back. Will walk this road out of the woods as if nothing had happened. You know, sometimes I leave the house, look for a long time at the stadium where he played in the summer, on the street, in the yard and miss him very much. I look forward to it every day. From all these experiences, my father (husband, - approx. TUT.BY) and I have been on medication all this time.

Valentina speaks quietly, looks tired. From some confusion I ask:

- Maybe you should go somewhere, change the situation ...

How can I leave? What if the baby comes back?



On the weekend of September 23 and 24, several thousand volunteers from all over the country and even abroad came to the agricultural town of Novy Dvor to help in the search for a 10-year-old boy who disappeared in Belovezhskaya Pushcha. The Euroradio correspondent turned into a volunteer for one day and joined the largest search operation in the history of Belarus.

CAMP, around 9 am

In total, on Saturday, September 23, about a thousand volunteers from all over Belarus gathered here. It is cold and overcast in the morning, everyone is worried that it will not rain. All reflective vests, which are distributed free of charge. Someone wraps their legs with cellophane and tape.

The camp of volunteers and the search and rescue squad "Angel" is located on the territory of the school stadium. Here they distribute food, pour hot tea and coffee, give out water and something to eat. All this is done by volunteers. People pass whole packages of cereals, stew, instant puree, coffee, tea, sugar, water. The school and the local executive committee allowed the use of their premises for the weekend, including the kitchen and toilet, but only until 4 p.m., then they are closed.


Volunteers are sent here to search. Each group has from 20 to 80 people, depending on how large areas they will check. In addition to volunteers, there are always representatives of the Ministry of Emergency Situations and foresters in the detachment.

The entire area around the village is divided into squares to make it easier to distribute them for testing. Volunteers are sent to check only the forest, rescuers and the military are engaged in swamps, and divers are engaged in reservoirs.

Every now and then, over the speakerphone, they announce that they are looking for among the volunteers experienced trackers, hunters, or at least just those who know how to use a compass and navigate the map. Unfortunately, "Angel" was not ready for such an influx of volunteers, and they did not have the required number of coordinators, walkie-talkies and ammunition.

Helicopters of the Ministry of Emergency Situations fly overhead, they circle over the forest all day in an attempt to notice a boy among the trees. At night they are checked surrounding area using a thermal imager. So far, however, the search has turned up nothing.


Everyone feels impatience before going out into the forest and a slight excitement. Some have been here since Friday, others have just arrived. But everyone is cheerful, drinking coffee from plastic cups, discussing the latest rumors.

Rumors here spread quickly and are most often completely unreliable. Allegedly, somewhere they saw some boy at the edge of the forest, but he, noticing the volunteers, ran away, or that they saw a guy from a helicopter who was hiding among the trees. All these conversations and rumors are not confirmed in any way and are most often officially refuted, but this does not prevent people from believing in them.

I'm in a squad of 80 people. We have only 8 coordinators and three walkie-talkies. Coordinators - young guys and girls, 25 years old, from regional offices search squad "Angel".

We were divided into cars, we leave in a given square in a column.


ROAD, about 10 am

Once in an old UAZ car of the regional Ministry of Emergency Situations, we, bouncing on the pits, head towards the desired section of the forest. Driving through the village, one of the rescuers remarks:

- You look, the locals don't care anymore, only visitors participate in the search.

- Well, what, life goes on, and the potatoes are not harvested and the mushrooms are flooded like crazy.

- They drove people from two regions. I heard that the special forces of the Ministry of Emergency Situations and the soldiers were driven into the swamp to check. And yesterday, all night long, helicopters circled over the forest with a thermal imager, they say, they found a couple of points, then we were sent there. And there was nothing there.

- What about volunteers?

- Volunteers were not touched, only us. We are state people, we can, but we are on a salary.

The conversation is interrupted, and they begin to discuss volunteers:

Did you hear what they said today? Drive the guy like a "beast".

- Yes, they have come, he is already like a beast for everyone. They want to drive him out of the forest like an animal.

- Yes, you look at them, all with knives, they are not shy about anything.

- Well, what did you want, they say to everyone that lynxes and wolves are found here. We have a lynx on every tree, which strives to jump on someone.


SEARCH, around 11 a.m.

Our square turns out to be about five kilometers from the village.

A chain of 80 people line up along the road. It stretches for 400 meters. Every 10 volunteers there is a coordinator. But there are only three walkie-talkies, two on the sides of the chain and one in the center. During the briefing, they explain how to move, when to stop, what to check and what to look for.

In the forest, the chain of people is constantly torn, someone runs forward, someone, on the contrary, lags behind, then they scatter from each other, then they huddle together. Most of the volunteers are participating in the search for the first time, they are inexperienced, wayward and think they know what is right. How more group, the more difficult it is to coordinate it, and if there are few walkie-talkies, then it is almost impossible.


We move forward slowly, we often stop, this annoys many. From time to time disputes break out with the coordinators, someone does not like the way they lead.

“Vanya, turn off this radio and go as we go, we won’t stop, otherwise we’ll walk one kilometer all day,- the guy with the inscription "Ivatsevichi Ultras" on the T-shirt is indignant. - Did these coordinators even finish school? Or even an army? We recruited from ads.

Vanya does not listen to him, although he gets angry and quarrels with the coordinators. People move forward, but after a minute they stop again.

We pass the first section of the forest, we go out into the field. People scattered so far from each other that the last ones left the forest about ten minutes after the appearance of the first. We walked a little over a kilometer and it took about half an hour. Searches in this area turned up nothing. The coordinators decide to break into several small groups of 20-30 people and check out smaller areas.


We come across a field to a pure pine forest. The wind blows through it, there are no bushes here, only moss and tall pines. There is nowhere to hide here. At the edge of the grove they find a jacket of a child's size, which the spiders have already settled in and made small cobwebs there, shoes are lying nearby. And although the jacket and boots do not fit the description, some people begin to play detectives:

So you think it's normal- asks one of the girls, who loves to voice various "terrible" versions of what happened to the missing boy, - why are some children's clothes just lying around in the forest?

- What do you think, is there some kind of pagan cult operating here, like in True Detective? one of the volunteers convinces her.

The girl falls silent, but clearly remains unsatisfied. The coordinators take pictures of the jacket and boots, mark the place on the map and move on. Having passed the pine forest, we again find ourselves on the field. Now we unite with the second group from our detachment. The people who went to the cars did not return.


In the distance, on the outskirts of the forest, some figure in a red vest is visible. According to the descriptions, the guy was just like that. The coordinators send one of their own to check. It turns out that this is one of the soldiers.

We enter another grove, a continuous windbreak. And then screams from somewhere on the side:

"AAA, *****, ****** MOTHER, AAAAA!"

The crackling of branches is heard, someone breaks out of the thicket to the field without understanding the road. Well, everything, I think, ran into a bear. A roe deer flies out of the forest and jumps away from us.


Mikhail, over 30 years old, an experienced hunter, came here from Grodno, says that his ten-year-old son was eager with him, but, fortunately, he did not take him and does not regret:

“We talked with the guys here and came to a consensus: our search is not so much a hope to find him alive, but to learn about his fate in general. It is unlikely that he is still alive. Because it can't be that so many people have been looking for it for more than a week and couldn't find anything."

Toward evening we set off on our return trip. After checking a few more sections of the forest, we go out onto the road and are already walking along it.


“This is the first time in our memory such a complex and massive search. Usually, we have a maximum of 30-40 people involved in the search, but this time the numbers are already in the thousands. Of course, the organization is chaotic, no one has dealt with such a large number of people, says the coordinator. “We had searches and five days when the grandmother got lost in the forest, we later found her alive, she slept peacefully in some kind of hollow, and all these days she ate berries and plants.”

We return to the cars. In almost seven hours of searching, we found several unidentified footprints, several jackets, one of which was for a child, and old size 40 boots that were unlikely to belong to a 10-year-old boy. According to representatives of the Angel squad, other groups also did not find anything. The boy disappeared, as if he had been swallowed up by the Belarusian Khton.


CAMP, around 6pm

In the meantime, life is in full swing in the camp. They brought hot food. Everyone is tired, in the web, in the mud, despite the fact that there was warm weather and there was no rain, the forest was damp and there were many puddles. The school closed and blocked volunteers' access to water, electricity and toilets. Fortunately, during this time, they managed to bring dry closets. Water was heated on portable gas stoves and in kettles, connected to a single gasoline generator.

During this time, a mobile shop "Belkoopsoyuz" appeared in the camp. Someone volunteering and free help, and someone business.


Closer to 19:00, the military arrived with a field kitchen and provided the camp with hot food. Those who have been here since Friday are about to leave, but new ones are taking their place. Most spend the night in cars, someone - in tents or lodges with locals. Why the school could not provide at least a gym for an overnight stay is not clear, especially since there are no classes on weekends anyway.

There will be no outings at night. The Ministry of Emergency Situations plans to once again check the entire forest using a thermal imager on helicopters. This search, like the previous ones, will give nothing.

In the evening I am leaving by a passing car back to Minsk. Many stay on the second day, but few hope to find the guy alive. We drive out to the main street of the Novy Dvor agro-town, local residents are standing near their fences, looking at the cars of volunteers. The sun is setting. Tomorrow there will be new searches, which will also bring nothing. And life for everyone else will go on.

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10 psychics joined the search for 10-year-old Maxim Markhaliuk, who disappeared in Belovezhskaya Pushcha. This was announced in the talk show "Our Life" on the ONT TV channel by police lieutenant colonel Georgy Yevchar, deputy head of department, head of the department for interaction with electronic media of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Belarus.

This was announced by the Investigative Committee of Belarus, said that Interpol had already received data about the child, the website Readweb.org reports. They will be opened by specialists in 99% of the countries of the world. And if the child really ended up abroad, then this will help speed up his search. Data about the child, in case of establishing his whereabouts abroad, will promptly get to the Belarusian law enforcement agencies.

Was Maxim Markhaliuk found in Belovezhskaya Pushcha: Investigating authorities are working out various versions of the disappearance of a schoolboy
Maksim Markhaluk, a resident of the village of Novy Dvor, Svisloch District, disappeared in Belovezhskaya Pushcha on September 16. 10 days later, on the fact of his disappearance, the investigating authorities opened a criminal case in accordance with paragraph 2 of Art. 167 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

Among the versions of the disappearance of the child - an escape from home and abduction.

Professionals and volunteers are involved in the largest search operation in the history of the country. On some days, about two thousand people were involved. Aviation and unmanned aerial vehicles were used.
The Podlasie site podlasie24.pl said that the police of the city of Siedlce, which is halfway from Brest to Warsaw, are checking a report about an unknown boy who, on the 20th of September, disappeared in a truck driver, did not tell anything about himself and ran away from the car in the village of Belki . The guy about whom in question, fits the description of Maxim Markhaliuk, who has been searched for in Belovezhskaya Pushcha since September 16th.

It is assumed that the boy climbed into the cab of the car in the parking lot in the Lyubortovsky district of the Lubelskie Voivodeship. From Novy Dvor to Lyubortov is about 250 km by car or about 195 km directly.

The police in Sedlec "Svabodze" refused to comment officially and advised them to contact the police in Belarus, who are looking for the missing guy.

The official representative of the Investigative Committee for the Grodno region, Sergei Shershenevich, told the Svaboda correspondent that the Polish side did not transmit any information regarding the missing Maxim Markhaliuk.

The USC in the Grodno region noted that immediately after the boy's mother reported her son missing, investigators from the Svisloch district department of the committee, police officers and experts arrived at the scene.
The official representative of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Belarus Vitaly Novitsky in his Facebook described the situation with the search for Maxim.

In 2017, the Ministry of Emergency Situations participated in the search for 26 lost children. 25 of them are found, one is not. In 2017, the Ministry of Emergency Situations participated in the search for 302 lost adults, 288 of them were found, 14 were not.

Why is this case special? Most children and adults are on the first day. Here is the news about a woman who spent three days in the forest. She was noticed by my colleagues from the helicopter of the Ministry of Emergency Situations. The boy was not found.

Work began the same night the message arrived. Confirmation of this is the news on our website that in one day we went out in search of 17 times (age is operational data, which was later corrected).

Why weren't thousands of people immediately there? The algorithm of any search is to build up forces and means in the absence of a result. In no country in the world have I seen situations where, 12 hours after the disappearance of a child in the forest, thousands of people are combing the area, and the sky is clogged with drones and helicopters. Our first board began work despite the dangerous weather, when it became clear that the search for specialists on the ground in the near radius and interviews with relatives and villagers did not bring results.

So why hasn't the boy been found? Experts and "experts" are trying to answer this question. I can't imagine what else rescuers and volunteers have to do in the context of forest searches. Everything worked out. Key places - twice: the police or the Ministry of Emergency Situations and volunteers.

During the search, people discussed various versions of what happened, up to fantastic ones (abducted by aliens). But most often it was these five options that sounded.

Version 1

Maxim went to the forest, he was frightened by bison, and he began to run away. And when he realized that he was lost and weakened, he hid somewhere in a shelter. He was simply missed when combing the forest.

Version 2

The boy fell into a well or fell into a hole. From weakness, he cannot call for help, so he was again missed during the search.

Version 3

Maxim disappeared in the swamp. Literally two kilometers from Novy Dvor, if you move south, rather large swamps begin. The depth of the swamp can reach two meters.

Version 4

There is no student in the forest. He ran away from home and is hiding from his parents. True, the parents said that they had no conflicts with Maxim.

Version 5

The boy was kidnapped and taken away. Perhaps even outside of Belarus.

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Local residents gave details about the missing boy.

Lost in the forest Maxim Markhaluk thought about running away from home, and for a long time. This is told by the inhabitants of the village of Novy Dvor, in the surrounding forests of which they have been looking for a 10-year-old boy for the second week already.

Many in the village are sure that the child was not lost, but consciously left home, writes belaruspartisan.org.

Why go to the forest at night looking?

“I saw Maxim in the village on Saturday. At five o’clock in the evening. Before that, I was in the forest. I went out, and then Maxim was going. and I’m not afraid,” says Valentina Alexandrovna, a resident of Novy Dvor, Maxim was friends with her son and often came to visit them.

According to the villager, her friend said that on the same day, but after 19:00, she saw Maxim riding in the center of the village. And then - as if he fell through the ground, everyone said that he had gone into the forest. But the woman is sure that going to the forest so late is not like Maxim. After all, at eight o'clock in the evening at this time of the year it is already getting dark, and the boy would not want to go into the darkness.

“He was so a little cowardly. He was even afraid of my puppy. When he came to us, he usually stands near the gate and calls: “Ilyusha!” or “Aunt Valya!” And I’ll go out and take him to the house. it is unlikely for him to go at night," adds Valentina Alexandrovna.

Many in the village agree that if the child had been in the forest that evening, he would have been found. After all, the search began immediately and continued even at night. And a child wandering through the night forest could not have gone far.

Made plans to escape for three years

The villagers assume that the boy could be very frightened of something. And not bison, but, for example, the coming punishment for some kind of offense. "Maybe he was afraid of his parents?" - the neighbors argue and tell one telling example.

Last year, for some reason, Maxim went to the lake alone, without his parents, went swimming and nearly drowned. He was rescued by people nearby. On that day, his parents severely punished him, they say, even beat him.

Rumor has it that then the boy, either seriously or out of resentment, told his parents: “I won’t live with you and I’ll run away anyway. Don’t buy anything for me, everything is for Sasha (older brother).”

In the village, the words of Maxim's own grandmother are also transmitted, who told how her grandson several years ago, when he was 7 or 8 years old, said: "I will run away from home anyway." Grandmother to him: "They will find you." And he: "They won't find me, I'll go to the swamps." And then he periodically said that he had such a plan.

Another resident of Novy Dvor, Tatyana Petrovna, said that the child in Lately has changed.

“Maxim has been friends with my grandson since the age of five. Always together when he is on vacation. And this year, the grandson said that he would no longer be friends. That Maxim started smoking, behaved differently. Maybe it’s teenage. that I didn’t tell my parents right away, it was my grandson who asked me not to tell anyone,” recalls the villager.

At the same time, the woman emphasizes several times that Maxim's family is very positive, prosperous, hardworking parents.

Could leave

The main version, which the inhabitants of Novy Dvor are inclined to believe, is that Maxim left for another area, and did so on the same evening or the next morning.

The child most likely had money. Even local children say that it is very easy to earn them in Pushcha. For example, you can sell berries or mushrooms.

And everyone characterizes Maxim as a very lively and purposeful boy. It is said that he often went to the forest.

Tatyana Petrovna argues: “We searched so many times with thermal imagers, walked with dogs, and how many people passed through the forest on the weekends. Ours are constantly walking. If the boy were here, they would have found at least some traces.”

Rumors that in different time they saw a child either in the forest or on the road, the neighbors consider it fiction. And they immediately ask: "If they saw a child, why didn't they catch up? They are adults. But it turns out that they saw and were allowed to leave."

Many locals constantly go to the forest on their own to look for Maxim.

“My soul hurts for the boy and for the family. We also don’t sleep at night. I go to the forest every day and in the evening, I call him. And now I’m going too, maybe something will be found,” adds Valentina Aleksandrovna.

Recall that Maxim Markhaliuk disappeared on September 16, was put on the national wanted list. On September 26, the Investigative Committee opened a criminal case into the disappearance of the child. Maxim has not been found yet. The main version of the police - the boy got lost in the woods.