Yana
Yana went missing around 4pm on Sunday, 17 January, after going to play on an ice slide outside her block of flats in the suburb of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk
Hundreds of volunteers joined police and turned every stone to find scared and frostbitten Yana.

Yana went missing around 4pm on Sunday, 17 January, after going to play on an ice slide outside her block of flats in the suburb of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk

Little Yana Khairulina was found after midnight on 18 January, eight hours after she disappeared from an ice slide next to her block of flats.

To rescuers who discovered her sitting quietly inside an empty well she said that she's been calling for help for hours.

'I was calling out loudly, asking to please open the door', the confused girl explained.


The hole was covered with a heavy snow cap, which is why it took hours to notice it. Many volunteers said they walked passed the well, not realising it was there hiding under the snow.

Yana was rushed to a children hospital where doctors concluded that she suffered no major traumas.

Psychological help will be provided after she recovers from hypothermia, and her bruises are healed.

Yana went missing around 4pm on Sunday, 17 January, after going to play on an ice slide outside her block of flats in the suburb of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk.

Parents went to police moments after realising that she vanished, and to local volunteers who spread the message via the social media.

Soon more than three hundred people were walking around the suburb of Lugovoye, checking all blocks of flats and entrances, playgrounds, shops and questioning anyone they could see if they came across the missing child.

Even the fishermen joined the search and were checking the shore with torch lights.

'I've never seen so many volunteers in our area. It was an endless stream of cars, whole families were coming to help', said a local resident who participated in the search.

Authorities of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk have launched an inquiry into who was responsible for looking after the well, and urged city communal services to check all wells in the area.

A separate investigation is underway into the girl's parents and how Yana came to be playing outside unsupervised.