Facts ignored by official inquest
Some researchers point out the following facts which were missed, perhaps ignored, by officials:
- After the funerals, relatives of the deceased claimed that the skin of the victims had a strange orange tan, and that the dead were completely grey-haired.
- A former investigating officer said, in a private interview, that his dosimeter had shown a high radiation level on Kholat Syakhl, and that this was the reason for the radiation found on the bodies. However, the source of the contamination was not found.
- Another group of hikers (about 50 kilometers south of the accident) reported that they saw strange orange spheres in the night sky to the north (likely the direction of in Kholat Syakhl) at the same date as the accident happened. Similar "spheres" were observed in Ivdel and adjacent areas continually during the period of February to March 1959, by various independent witnesses (including the meteorology service and the military). The search team reported that they had observed the same spheres above Kholat Syakhl on March 31.
- Some reconstructions of the victims' behavior suggest that they were blinded. The rescue team had seen that the victims broke damp and thick pine branches for the fire, even though there was good dry brushwood around.
- Some objects found near the camp were not identified as properties of any of the group members.
- One victim, Dubunina, had no tongue.
