Day of Remembrance of the Victims of the Latsky Tragedy in Abkhazia (14/12)

Today Abkhazia celebrates the Day of Remembrance of the Victims of the Latvian Tragedy — citizens who died in the Patriotic War of the People of Abkhazia of 1992-1993.

On December 14, 1992, during the Georgian-Abkhaz war in the Kodori Gorge over the village of Lata (Gulripshsky district), troops of the State Council of Georgia shot down a Russian helicopter on a humanitarian flight from the besieged city of Tkuarchala to the city of Gudauta.

As a result of this barbaric act, all passengers and crew members died — 87 people, including 35 children. Among the victims of the Latvian tragedy were eight pregnant women. The remains of the victims are buried in the city of Gudauta.

It is in Gudauta that the public of Abkhazia gathers at the Memorial to the Victims of the Lat tragedy on the anniversary of those events. Every year a funeral meeting is held here dedicated to the memory of the victims of the Latskaya tragedy. And in all Orthodox churches of the republic and in religious institutions of other faiths, memorial services and prayer services are held for those killed in the Latvian tragedy.

A memorial rally is also taking place in the city of Tkuarchal, at the memorial erected on the site from which a helicopter with women and children took off on that tragic day, as well as in Sukhum at the Memorial in the Park of Glory.

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