Volunteer Shares Search and Rescue Stories from Ryazan
Every year, hundreds of people go missing in the Ryazan region, and most are found alive. Even if not immediately. Behind their rescue are not only law enforcement agencies but also ordinary people — volunteers of the search and rescue team LizaAlert.
One of the volunteers, Denis Oleynik, the senior of the novice direction in the Ryazan region with the call sign «Diss,» told YA62.RU about the most memorable rescue stories, including children. What follows is a first-person account.
«I Was Afraid»
One amazing case happened last year. A young man went missing five years ago and was listed as missing in all services. After four years, his mother received a fine for her son; he was crossing the railway in an unauthorized place in Ryazan. That«s how he was found.
There was another case. A grandmother with memory problems, who went missing in Kemerovo, was found in Ryazan. She somehow made it to our city, where volunteers noticed her. They helped take her to Domodedovo Airport.
Most often, people go missing in forests. I remember the search in 2025. In the Klepikovsky district, they were looking for an 84-year-old grandmother. Volunteers came from Nizhny Novgorod, Tula, Kaluga, and walked 43 kilometers through the forest. And they found her alive, cheerful, and brisk. She spent two days in the forest, and we found her fresh tracks, but she did not respond.
When we left, she came out on her own afterwards. When asked why she didn«t respond, she answered: »I was afraid.« Thank God, everything ended well.
«Wanting to Play Grown-Up»
I would gladly talk about children, but I can«t. Very young children go missing due to adult inattention. Last year, a child went for a walk and drowned right next to the house.
Teenagers often go missing because they want to play at adult life and run away from parents. It happened that they were found in computer clubs. Many such searches end well, most often children are found at their friends« places.
A tragic story happened in the Tver region. Many students who studied with him came to search for the teenager. We from Ryazan arrived on the second day, and according to the registration list, I was the two-hundredth volunteer. The city was tinged with orange. But, unfortunately, he was found dead.
«Don»t Wait Until Evening«
In such moments, you feel that you didn«t make it in time, and it»s morally very heavy. The main thing is not to take everything to heart, otherwise you can quickly burn out and lose interest in searches. When the status «Found, alive» appears — it«s incredible happiness, because we arrived in time and saved a life. The same joy comes from night patrol, if we managed to help at least one person not freeze on the street.
The night patrol in the LizaAlert team takes place during late hours in the cold season. Volunteers walk or drive through the streets, helping children, disabled people, intoxicated individuals, or those who are simply sitting or lying on the street.
Thousands of kilometers walked, many sleepless nights… But all this is worth at least one saved human life.
The more people learn about us, the more often they call. If an adult or child is lost, call immediately, without waiting until evening or night. Waiting three days is a myth from Soviet films. The earlier the search begins, the greater the chances of finding the person alive and unharmed.
If a loved one is missing, first of all, you should contact the police or call 112. Such a call is equivalent to contacting the police and goes through, even if there is no signal or SIM card in the phone. Also, the hotline of the LizaAlert search and rescue team operates 24/7: 8 800 700-54-52.
