Death toll in Moscow concert hall attack may rise: 95 people still missing

The official death toll at the Moscow Concert Hall was 140, including 182 injured. However, Russian news agencies reported that 95 people were still missing.

Last week, gunmen stormed Moscow’s Krokus City Hall, spraying concertgoers with automatic weapons and setting fire to the venue.

Emergency services have compiled a list of missing people following appeals from concerned relatives of the victims.

“These lists include people whose relatives have been unable to contact since the terrorist attacks, but they are not on the lists of the injured and dead,” Baza said. “Some of them have died but have not yet been identified.”

Russian investigators said the four attackers were armed with Kalashnikov automatic weapons and fired more than 500 rounds. The shooting occurred just before Soviet-era rock band Picnic was due to perform to a sold-out crowd of 6,200 people. More than 200 people may have been inside the burning building when the roof collapsed.

Russian social media has been flooded with calls to find victims. After the attacks, many people turned to social media to seek help in locating missing relatives. They joined a chat group on Telegram called “Crocus.Help Centre” to share the names of missing people and support each other.

“Is there anyone named Igor Valentinovich Klimenchenko on the list?” one user wrote on Saturday night. “Can someone send me a list of the victims?”

One person in the chat was worried about their uncle, who had not been heard from since the attack. Another story from a different region of Russia tells of a mother from the Bryansk region who is still searching for her son Dmitry Bashlykov, The husband (Dmitry Bashlykov) went to the concert with a friend who successfully escaped.

The situation remains unclear, with many families desperate for news about their missing relatives.