Maxim Markhaliuk from the agro-town of Novy Dvor, Svisloch district, disappeared a month ago, on September 16th. On October 10, the boy turned 11 years old. He is still being sought.

“The search will continue until the criminal case is opened. To close a criminal case, certain grounds are needed, which now do not exist,” the head of the information and information department told Naviny.by. public relations MIA Konstantin Shalkevich.

According to him, additional surveys are being conducted on the spot, information is being exchanged.

The Investigative Committee opened a criminal case on the fact of the disappearance of Maxim Markhaliuk - in accordance with paragraph 2 of Art. 167 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (10 days after the disappearance).

The boy is on the international wanted list - Interpol is also looking for him. As Konstantin Shalkevich noted, when placing data on the missing person in the Interpol bank, information is brought to the attention of employees who, by the nature of their activities, are engaged in the search for missing people.

“The mechanism of dissemination of information, methods and methods of work of foreign colleagues are the same as ours,” said the head of the information and public relations department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

- You pass Maxim's mother, she's at work, you don't want to say anything and ask. Nothing to say, nothing to ask. If she had any information, then everyone would already know. So what do you say? Once again to excite - it is simply impossible. After all, every time she again experiences tragedy. It can be seen that the person is thinner, emaciated - one cannot look without pain and tears. Remember when there was information about the Polish trail? So she straight up perked up when they said. And now ... Now she has this condition again ...

In the largest in the history of the country search operation aviation and unmanned aerial vehicles were used aircrafts, professionals and volunteers participated.

IN separate days More than two thousand people were involved in the search for the boy, Sergey Kovgan, commander of the Angel search and rescue team, told Naviny.by.

“Everything possible has been done on the spot. There are places left that no one can technically examine - swamps. We combed everything we could, several times, but there is no information about the whereabouts of the boy,” Kovgan said.

There is an algorithm for the search and rescue operation, the specialists know what and how to do, Sergey Kovgan emphasized: “The search for the boy has not been stopped, it is continued by the Angel squad by informing everyone possible ways. So we do everything that depends on us. And law enforcement agencies are engaged in operational-search activities.

Currently, the Angel squad is looking for more than 54 children, all of them disappeared even before Maxim Markhaliuk.

This year alone, Angel helped find dozens of people and thousands in five years of work. However, this public initiative rests only on the enthusiasm of people "who, out of a spiritual impulse, are ready to spend their energy, time in the name of finding other people."

The search for missing schoolboy Maxim Markhaliuk in Belovezhskaya Pushcha has been going on for more than a month.

Maxim Markhaliuk left home in the village of Novy Dvor (Svisloch district) on the evening of September 16th. Since then, nothing is known about the whereabouts of the boy.

"On this moment Maxim is being searched for by employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs together with dog handlers and a special forces detachment. In spite of everything, we do not lose hope that the boy will be found,” a member of the CenterSpas search and rescue team from Grodno told Sputnik.

Members of the detachment, according to CenterSpas representatives, always hope that the missing will be found sooner or later. Meanwhile, 40 days have passed since the disappearance of Markhaliuk.

The whole country continues to follow the search for Maxim. In the midst of search activities, more than a thousand people from all over the country came to the village of Novy Dvor - volunteers from the Angel, CenterSpas and other search teams wanted to help the police and the Ministry of Emergency Situations.

Ten days after the disappearance of the boy, the Investigative Committee opened a criminal case. Law enforcement work out everything possible versions the disappearance of Maxim, but so far the situation with the disappearance of the child has not cleared up.

In the Novy Dvor itself, at the mention of the name of Maxim, they only shrug and sigh. On October 10, the boy had a birthday - he turned 11 years old. The villagers hoped that they would still find Maxim by his birthday, but the child is still missing.

- Absolutely no news. Nobody tells us anything. The Investigative Committee works and does not share anything with us, - says Alla Goncharevich, director of the school where Maxim's mother works. “If my parents knew anything, we would know too. And so ... Absolutely nothing. We do not leave hope. In fact, there is no child.

But you never know, there are different fantastic cases. This is not a standard situation. In a simple situation, we had to find him right away at night, well, let it be on Sunday. Well, at least on the third day. The situation is simply unusual. There have already been such searches that it is impossible to come up with, even think of something. All guesses are already at the level of fantasy. From the experience of books, movies and life. It's hard to come up with something new.

According to Alla Ivanovna, of course, the mother is most worried about her son.

- You pass Maxim's mother, she's at work, you don't want to say anything and ask. Nothing to say, nothing to ask. If she had any information, then everyone would already know. So what do you say? Once again to excite - it is simply impossible.

After all, every time she again experiences tragedy. It can be seen that the person is thinner, emaciated - one cannot look without pain and tears. Remember when there was information about the Polish trail? So she straight up perked up when they said. And now ... Now she has this condition again ...

Valentina herself does not particularly want to talk to reporters.

“And what can I say if there is no information,” she explains in a quiet, exhausted voice. - I'm calling, but there is no information ...



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 torn 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 with such big amount didn't care about 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 are leaving for the main street of the agricultural town Novy Dvor, locals stand near their fences, look 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.

GRODNO, September 27 - Sputnik, Inna Grishuk. Maksim Markhaliuk, who disappeared in Pushcha, had been thinking about running away from home 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 are sure: the child was not lost, but consciously left home.

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 driving. 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 interlocutor of Sputnik, 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.

© Sputnik

“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’s unlikely for him to go at night, ”adds Valentina Aleksandrovna.

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 almost 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.

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 residents 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.”

© Sputnik

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 forest.

A month ago Maxim Markhaliuk disappeared in Belovezhskaya Pushcha. Exactly a month ago, on September 16, the then 10-year-old Maxim Markhaliuk, alone without adults, went into the forest for mushrooms and did not return. After 31 days, the child has not been found. Where they looked for the boy, what versions were considered and whether there are results a month later - the chronology of events of the largest operation in the country. The boy lives in the village of Novy Dvor, Svisloch district, Grodno region. For the first time, hours after it became known about the disappearance of the boy, local residents and the police took part in the search. Three dogs were put on the trail, and nothing. On Sunday, about 150 people were involved in the search. On September 18, the first information about the missing Maxim appeared in the media. Rescuers, police, hundreds of volunteers immediately began to arrive at the scene. public organizations - "TsetrSpas", "Belovezhskie Zubr" - with lanterns comb the forest meter by meter. The search engines from the "Angel" detachment also arrived. A rescue helicopter circled the area, but no sign of the Boys was found. The main version - Maxim was lost in Belovezhskaya Pushcha. Every day, volunteers, volunteers, police and the Ministry of Emergency Situations combed the forest. September 22 was the sixth day of the search. Emergency helicopters were involved. 20 specialists from the Ministry of Emergency Situations arrived in Pushcha, with the appropriate search skills in such difficult conditions. Rescuers have drones and thermal imagers, which will allow them to search for the missing child at night. In addition, cynologists with service dogs and divers from the Ministry of Emergency Situations arrived in the Svisloch district. About two thousand volunteers worked at the place where the child went missing, and about 60 square kilometers of the forest were surveyed in six days. The search was complicated by the fact that the area where the child disappeared is a protected area, and sanitary deforestation has never been carried out there. In addition, there are many swamps in the search area, which also made it difficult to comb through the forest. But the search for the boy did not bring results. A mass gathering was scheduled for the first weekend. On September 23 and 24, more than 2,000 people took part in the search for the missing boy in Belovezhskaya Pushcha. Whole families came to search, and not only from Belarus. The square of searches was significantly expanded, at night they continued to search for the boy with a thermal imager. But the search again did not bring results. Then the first suggestions appeared that perhaps the boy was not in the forest. On September 26, volunteers and volunteers continued to look for the boy. Mostly civilians were sent to comb the forest, while more trained people explored the swampy area. The headquarters still adhered to the main version - Maxim could be frightened by bison and he went far into the forest. On the same day, September 26, the Svisloch district department of the Investigative Committee initiated a criminal case into the disappearance on September 16 of a resident of the village of Novy Dvor, Svisloch district, Grodno region, in accordance with paragraph 2 of article 167 of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Republic of Belarus. The basis for the adoption of this procedural decision was the expiration of ten days from the date of filing an application for the disappearance of the child and the failure to establish his whereabouts in the course of the operational search activities. But literally the next day, September 27, new information appeared in the media that the boy had deliberately run away from home, and that Maxim had been planning an escape for 3 years. In the village, the words of Maxim's grandmother, 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. Now the locals adhered to a different version, that Maxim left for another area, and did it 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. Meanwhile, in Belovezhskaya Pushcha, the search for Maxim Markhaliuk went on for the 11th day. Unfortunately, no new traces of Maxim have been found. With each day of searching, the hope of finding Maxim in Belovezhskaya Pushcha faded away. And the longer they searched for the boy, the more questions appeared. Hundreds of volunteers, police officers, military personnel, foresters, rescuers, local residents participated in the search activities, drones with thermal imagers and aviation of the Ministry of Emergency Situations were involved - and not a single trace. Even criminal versions began to be discussed. But no specifics. Maybe the child was kidnapped - but by whom and why? Could a poacher accidentally shoot him in the forest? However, until now, the search engines have not found any traces that could be hooked on. On September 29, it was a pleasant decision that, in order to simplify the work and increase the efficiency of the inspection of the allocated territory, trained specialists and coordinators of the PSO "TsentrSpas" (Grodno, Grodno region), local residents will take part in the search for Maxim Markhaliuk. Mass was no longer required. Other information began to appear on the Internet that it is possible that the child crossed the border with Poland. However, the leadership of the Polish part of Belovezhskaya Pushcha stated that the boy had no opportunity to get to Poland. “It’s impossible: there are too many fences. Through the forest all the way state border stretches high fence. On October 1, rescuers began to check new version that the child is in one of the dangerous swamps in the surrounding villages. And the volunteers from the detachments were asked not to comb the forests and the surroundings of the village of Novy Dvor anymore - the reason was that the volunteers had nothing to check, and the version that the child got lost or hid in the forest was not confirmed. On October 3, OMON joined the search for Maxim Markhaliuk. The militia continued to work out all versions of disappearance of the boy. At the same time, hundreds of messages came from psychics and clairvoyants. Some of them have even been tested. But none of the versions brought results. On October 4, a Polish regional information website reported that the Siedlce city police were checking a report about an unknown boy who was driving into the city, hiding in a truck, and then fled. After information appeared that in Poland an unknown boy hid in a truck and then fled (and this information caused a wide public outcry in Belarus and the border regions of Poland), local police officers tracked down the driver who sent them this information through the website and showed to him a photograph of Maksim Markhaliuk, who disappeared in Belarus. The trucker confidently stated - no, it was not Maxim in his car: that boy was swarthy, presumably a gypsy. On October 6, Maxim Markhaliuk was announced in international wanted list: Interpol also joined the search for the boy: information about signs, as well as a photograph of the Belarusian, appeared on the website of the international agency. In addition, a photograph and a description of Maxim's appearance were handed over to law enforcement officers. neighboring countries. Meanwhile, in the agro-town of Novy Dvor, the 21st day of searching was underway. Law enforcement officers, including riot police, worked at the scene. The search continued. On October 10, Maxim Markhaliuk, who disappeared in Belovezhskaya Pushcha on September 16, turned 11 years old. The boy continued to search for 26 days. So far, no new circumstances have come to light. Psychics also joined the search for Maxim Markhaliuk, who disappeared in Belovezhskaya Pushcha. Several people came to Pushcha to check their versions, told the police their assumptions, someone told about visions. But none of the versions of psychics was confirmed. About ten psychics from Belarus tried to find Maxim. A month and nothing...

For the eleventh day, they are looking for 10-year-old Maxim Markhaliuk, who disappeared in Novy Dvor, Svisloch district.

As before, no traces of Maxim Markhaliuk have been found. The Investigative Committee opened a criminal case today under Part 2 of Art. 167 Code of Criminal Procedure. Svaboda collected 10 main facts about the disappearance of a 10-year-old child:

1. Circumstances of disappearance

The first reports of the disappearance of Maxim Markhaliuk appeared on 18 September. The report said that the mother of a 10-year-old boy turned to the police and said that at about 20.00 on the evening of September 16, he rode a bicycle towards the forest near his village and disappeared. Already at 10 pm on the same day, they began to look for Maxim - parents, fellow villagers, police officers and the Ministry of Emergency Situations. In the forest they found the boy's bicycle, a bag of mushrooms, but no more traces.

2. Where does it happen

All events take place in the village of Novy Dvor, Svisloch district, on the outskirts of Belovezhskaya Pushcha. The village council said that the house of the Markhalyuks stands on the outskirts of the village, next to the forest. About 500 meters from the house, a hut was built in the forest, where the Markhalyuks dry mushrooms.


Already on Monday, September 18, not only police officers and employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, but also teachers from his school, high school students, residents of Novy Dvor and surrounding villages, volunteers from different cities of Belarus came to search for Maxim.

3. About Markhalyukov

Maxim Markhaluk is 10 years old. According to the police report, he appeared to be 8 or 9 years old, wearing blue sweatpants, a brown hooded sweater, and a cherry-coloured tank top.


Mother Valentina Nikolaevna works as a technician at school, father Valery Nikolaevich is a worker at a local agricultural enterprise.

Valentina told reporters that they went around the whole neighborhood in search of Maxim day and night, examined the swamps and abandoned houses, combed the forest, but to no avail. Maxim's older brother Sasha (graduated already military school) said that his brother warned him: they say, he only walks along the edge of the forest and will return home. He also says that Maxim did not go far alone, that he did not quarrel with anyone that day. According to Sasha, his brother could have been frightened by a herd of bison - there were many bison tracks where Maxim left his bicycle and basket.

In the first days after the boy disappeared, the parents turned to fortune-tellers and psychics - they allegedly said that the boy was alive.


4. Version of the search headquarters

10 days after the disappearance of Maxim Markhaliuk, the Investigative Committee opened a criminal case under Part 2 of Art. 167 Code of Criminal Procedure.

The article decides to start a case if, within 10 days from the filing of a statement about the disappearance of a person, it was not possible to find his whereabouts.

Previously, investigators did not see grounds for a criminal case. As they said, there is no reason to believe that the boy was the victim of a crime.

The main version, which was followed for ten days at the search headquarters, was that the boy got lost in the forest.

The territory of the forest is divided into squares, each of them is checked. The headquarters say that the searchers have covered the maximum distance that the boy could cover in this time. Helicopters and drones with a thermal imager are still involved in the search. The search continues.


5. Main danger in the forest

According to the coordinator of the Angel detachment, Christina Basova, who twice went to Novy Dvor to look for Maxim, the most dangerous thing for the boy is wild animals, impenetrable swamps and the weather itself.

“During these days we met bison, and a wolf, and wild boars, and roe deer,” says Kristina. - The week was rainy, damp and frosty. It's all very difficult, even for a trained adult."

6. What people say

Locals say that the boy was prepared and could not just disappear into the forest. Many of the townspeople believe that bison could scare him, and admit that he is simply hiding there.

True, the same locals add that such cases have never happened in their village before. They say that the village children know well where to go and where not to go. They say about Maxim that with strangers he wouldn't go anywhere, let alone go anywhere.


7. Large-scale search operation

The operation to search for Maxim was called the largest in Belarus.

A week after the disappearance of Maxim in Belarus, the gathering of all search and rescue teams was announced. Over the weekend, several thousand people took part in the search for the boy. In addition to police officers, military personnel, border guards, police officers, employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, people from all over Belarus, volunteers from the Smolensk region and Lithuania, came to Novy Dvor.


8. Unthinkable number of volunteers

The largest number of search engines was observed on weekends. According to official figures, more than 2,000 volunteers came to Novy Dvor on Saturday. Experts noted that many people had no experience at all in such operations, sometimes they simply did not know how to behave and what to do.

Nevertheless, everyone was divided into groups, each of which received its own search square.

Volunteers say they walked through the forest and swamps for 10 hours, sometimes in the rain. But no trace of Maxim was found by anyone. The coordinator of the Angel squad, Kristina Basova, despite various shortcomings in the organization, believes that the search is being carried out at the highest level.

“Yes, at the beginning there were problems and there was not even a single coordinating point where information from all search groups would flow. But for very a short time specialists were able to streamline coordination and send people to search activities. Managed to feed people, warm and give a place to rest. Everyone participated in this. It’s just that people were actually motivated to find Maxim,” Basova said.

According to Christina, those who could not come and help in the search transferred money to the detachment's settlement account. And that, she says, is also a big help.

9. Can a child survive in the forest for that long?

Kirill Golubev, coordinator of the "Angel" detachment, who is currently coordinating work in Belovezhskaya Pushcha, says that the likelihood that the boy is alive is real. According to him, there were cases when a four-year-old child disappeared into the taiga and survived for 10 days.

“We assume the boy is still alive. The search continues, no new traces of Maxim have been found, but we believe and are looking for,” says Kirill Golubev.

The commander of the "Angel" detachment, Sergei Kovgan, said that the operation has the status of a search and rescue operation.

“The fact is that now in the forest there is especially nothing to eat. I understand that a hunter could still get food for himself, but he is not a hunter, he is only a teenager, and it is hard to imagine what he could eat here,” says Kovgan.


10. Operation continues

According to official information, on September 25, over 500 people were involved in the search for Maxim. The search continues, no new traces of Maxim have been found so far.