President Vladimir Putin's effort to rescue the hostages trapped in a Moscow theatre was threatening to turn from a military triumph into a political disaster last night as the authorities grudgingly admitted that as many as 150 people may have been killed by Russia's own special forces.
Clumsy use of a powerful and mysterious gas caused their deaths, in addition to disabling most of the 50 Chechen hostage-takers.
As hundreds of desperate relatives crowded outside hospitals for a second day pleading for news on whether their loved ones were dead or alive, evening news programmes on Russia's mainly pro-Kremlin media were forced to start covering their anger and confusion.
All but two of the 117 hostages so far confirmed dead in the Moscow theatre siege died of gas poisoning, the city's top doctor said yesterday.
Dr Andrei Seltsovsky, chairman of Moscow's city health committee, said only two of the around 800 hostages had died from gunshot wounds when elite troops stormed the theatre early on Saturday.
Some 646 of the freed hostages were still in hospital, of whom 150 were in intensive care and 45 were "in a grave condition". Two women had not yet regained consciousness.
The authorities at first refused to tell doctors what the gas was, leading to complaints that it was making their job of treating patients with antidotes much harder.
The BBC reported last night that the United States embassy has officially asked the Russians for more information, insisting it is crucial for the treatment of casualties.
Last night details of the last moments of the siege were becoming clearer, despite a fog of false information given initially by officials.
Mr George Vasilyev, a senior producer at the theatre, who became the main linkman between the Chechens and the authorities, gave a version of events which differed drastically from that given by the Russians the night before.
They had said the gas was used at 5.30 a.m. on Saturday morning because the gunmen had started shooting hostages, leaving the authorities with no alternative but to storm the building.
But Mr Vasilyev, whose account tallied with the reports given by many witnesses of the storming, said two hostages had been shot at 3 a.m.
It was not a cold-blooded execution in line with a strict timetable of threats but was the result of panic among the hostages, which led to a young boy screaming and jumping out of his seat. In response, the gunmen opened fire on him but missed, hitting two of his neighbours. A long period of stunned calm followed until 6 a.m.
Mr Vasilyev's account will leave Russian authorities open to charges of a cover-up. They had tried to justify use of the gas as a last resort in the face of the impending execution of hostages.
It also confirms suspicions that the women hostage-takers, as well as their leader, Arbi Barayev, were executed by the Russians when they were unconscious.
President Putin asked the relatives of the dead hostages for forgiveness in a TV address on Saturday, but the tenor of his statement was that no-one could have expected to mount so risky a rescue without some casualties. He declared today a national day of mourning. - (Guardian Service)