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In 1959 a group of nine Russian students met a mysterious death in the Ural Mountains. Experienced cross-country skiers, their bodies were found scattered around a campsite, their tent cut from the inside, as they seemingly panicked to escape from someone – or something.

Sixty years on, Lucy Ash traces their footsteps to try and find out what happened.

In the decades that have followed, a host of theories have been put forward as to what caused these mysterious deaths: it was an avalanche, or murderous local tribesman, or the Russian Yeti - or a secret Soviet weapons test.

Though if there was a government cover-up, it’s curious that earlier this year the Russian authorities decided to reopen the investigation into the incident. They say it’s time to put the conspiracies to bed – but why now?

Reporter: Lucy Ash
Producer: Richard Fenton-Smith
Researcher: Tatyana Movshevich

(Photo: The Dyatlov Pass in the Ural Mountains in Russia, where nine students died in 1959. Credit: Richard Fenton-Smith/±«Óãtv)