Mother of Olesya Kosareva pens heartfelt post after flood tragedy

Earlier, we reported on the tragic death of artist Olesya Kosareva — she lived in the village of Kyn and died during a severe flood. She was searched for two weeks, and her mother, Anastasia, took part in the search. About how she looked for her daughter and what she is going through now, the woman wrote in her blog.

Twenty-eight-year-old Olesya Kosareva went missing on 11 July. As the artist«s father, Viktor Kosarev, told 59.RU, that evening Olesya came with her mother to their house to collect belongings because of rapidly rising water. As they were about to leave, the house shook and drifted with the current. The mother managed to swim out, while Olesya, along with the bags, was swept away by the water.

The search for the young woman continued for about two weeks. Her body was found by local residents and volunteer searchers about 40 kilometers from Kyn, in the area of the Sylvitsa River. On 26 July, in the Telegram channel where Olesya Kosareva published her paintings, her mother Anastasia wrote: «They found the body. Goodbye, daughter.»

«My daughter»s head flashed ahead in the raging current«

Anastasia runs a Telegram channel called «Notes of a Forest Therapist,» in which she writes about nature, animals, and the forest, which she feels deeply, as well as about her travels with Olesya and the dog.

«Once upon a time there lived a forest mother, a forest daughter, and a forest dog,» the woman wrote in her Telegram channel. «The mother is a forest one because nature is the most important thing in her life. To be in it, every summer she freed herself: she would quit her job in May and start a new one in September. Later she stopped working altogether. Since seventh grade — hikes, walks, rafting trips, and so on throughout her life.

The daughter is a forest one because from six months old she lived alone with her mother in the woods. Then every summer — the forest, rafting trips, and after that hikes, difficult, long ones, often alone. She didn«t just walk — she drew. Her drawings will accompany this story. And the dog is a forest dog, and no explanation is needed why.»

Anastasia also wrote about the tragedy and what she and Olesya experienced at that moment.

«Everything happened suddenly. The water was roaring, carrying boulders. The roar and crash of stones. And then a blow, a crack. The water swept away the foundation mound. The forest mother — from here on I»ll say «I» — said:

— We«re gathering our things.

— Do you think we«ll need them? — the daughter asked with disbelief.

The water had already swept away the porch, then the fence and the foundation mound near the bathhouse. We needed to quickly gather what was important, what we wanted to keep. Passport, cards, money. Clothes for the night. Where are my pants? Where are all my pants?! Laptops — yes, I«m taking both. Also a kalimba and the bracelet I see on the shelf. Phones, camera. What else?

The stove cracked, the floor heaved.

— We need to get out now!

We rushed to the exit. Put the collar on the dog. Opened the door. And we were swept away.

At that moment, the water had undercut the bank beneath the house, and it collapsed into the river. The leash was torn away. I said goodbye to the dog. My daughter«s head flashed ahead in the raging current.

Thirty meters per second. But I survived. I was helped by the fact that in hikes you often have to solve survival problems in an instant, and by the fact that 26 years of winter swimming have trained my psyche to react calmly to stress.«

«That very mother and that very daughter»

The woman then talks about the details of her rescue and her first thought — it was about her daughter.

«I went to the people,» Anastasia continued in her posts. «In the center, by the shop, there was a group. Our river was flowing down the road, splitting the village in two. It was impossible to get to the other bank. I reported about my daughter. It turned out she had already been seen in Chusovoy, but they didn»t know it was her. My daughter was caught on a jam of trees, but she surfaced from under it. A man in a motorboat passed the jam, looking for her — but big waves and muddy water prevented him from seeing her.«

Anastasia also talked about how people warmed her up and gave her and the dog shelter, and about how she searched for her daughter.

«I walked and rode in a motorboat with rescuers, volunteers, and on my own — dozens of kilometers,» the woman wrote. «None of my versions were confirmed; I checked everything I could. I thought: what will happen to me when I check everything and don»t find her? Will despair come? No. What came was the understanding that I was only hindering her being found. Because action gives rise to reaction.«

On 26 July, Anastasia said goodbye to her daughter in her blog, and today, 28 July, she published a touching post dedicated to her in her Telegram channel. It is filled with love, and one can feel how close these two people were to each other.

«Are there mothers who have never raised their voice at their daughter? Probably yes. Somewhere there are such. Are there mothers who, having barely managed to catch a glimpse of their daughter being carried away by the river, begin their own fight with that very river, to the death? I think yes. Such certainly exist. Are there mothers in front of whom a bag is unzipped and they are shown the one who can no longer be recognized by face? I think yes.

And are there mothers in the world who experienced all of this together. Probably not. Unlikely. Does there still exist on earth that very mother and that very daughter who, together, with a husky, walked half of the Main Ural Ridge — where time turns to stone? No. It does not exist.

How much more did we have that no one else did. How many moments remained only between us, not recorded in any diary... How many mothers around the world drown their questions in tears. But only we two are silent about the same thing.«

The post is accompanied by footage from a drone, in which mother and daughter sit atop a rock and look down at the world from above.

We traveled to Kyn after the natural disaster — we told and showed how the village is coping with the aftermath of the tragedy.