Remembrance Day of the Victims of the Latvian Tragedy

Children should not know war...In Abkhazia, the day of the Victims of the Latvian tragedy who died in the Patriotic War of the people of Abkhazia in 1992-93 is celebrated.

On December 14, 1992, during the Georgian-Abkhaz war in the Kodori gorge over the village of Lata, Gulripsh district, the troops of the State Council of Georgia shot down a Russian helicopter making a humanitarian flight from the besieged city of Tkuarchal to the city of Gudauta.

This barbaric act killed 84 people, including 35 children. Among the victims of the Latvian tragedy were eight pregnant women. The remains of the dead are buried in the city of Gudauta.

It is in Gudauta that the public of Abkhazia gathers on the anniversary of those events at the Memorial to the victims of the Latvian tragedy. Every year there is a mourning rally dedicated to the memory of the victims of the Latvian tragedy.

The Memory rally is also taking place in the city of Tkuarchal, near the memorial installed on the site from where a helicopter with women and children took off on that tragic day.