Five-year-old Zarina, who was found in the forest alive and unharmed, asked the rescuers for water and a piece of cake. The fourth day of continuous work in Nizhny Novgorod Oblast on an area of almost 40 square miles (100 square km) made not only her parents and relatives happy but also 800 people who, without losing hope, continued to follow the child's trail. Zarina was taken to the regional children's hospital by helicopter. After a check-up, she was placed in the intensive care unit. Doctors say that her condition is close to satisfactory.
Little Zarina is now in the intensive care unit, but she already feels much better. Her mother is constantly with her.
Malika Mirzoeva, Zarina's mother: "She's alright. She can talk and sit. They gave her a coloring book. And she colors in it".
Oleg Kadnikov, Chief Physician: "It's a wonder that she's in the condition in which we saw her. She's in a condition of medium severity, close to the satisfactory one. And that's good".
Zarina already began to tell how she left her home for the woods to look for her grandmother, how she got lost, was caught up by a thunderstorm, did without food and water, and her miraculous salvation.
Malika Mirzoeva, Zarina's mother: "I asked her what she ate, maybe blackberries or currants. She said that she didn't eat anything. I asked if she drank some water from a river or lake. She said that she didn't drink or eat. She said that she was lying down when they found her. And that's it. They ashed, "Zarina, where are you?" She answered, "I'm here".
Volunteers carried the exhausted and frozen Zarina to the ambulance. They made short stops to give the girl some water. Five-year-old Zarina stayed alone in the forest for three and a half days. She was wearing a T-shirt, shorts, and rubber boots on her bare feet. The child was found 1.2 miles (two kilometers) away from the village of Stepanovka, which Zarina left on Sunday afternoon.
Tatiana Soldatova, volunteer: "There were bites on her neck and abrasions on her legs. Her boots and clothes were in a pile nearby. Frozen and exhausted, she tore a cloth and tried to lie and warm herself on that cloth. She was trembling".
The volunteers who found Zarina said that the girl was lying in a bush. She already wasn't able to stand on her own two feet.
Kirill Ilyin, volunteer: "She asked for something sweet and water. She wanted a cake. We asked her how was she, she said that she wasn't tired. Yup. So she kept her chin up for all that time".
Volunteers and operational services did an almost impossible thing because the search zone consisted of 40 square miles (100 square kilometers) of impassable forests, ravines, lakes, and swamps. They combed the area day and night, and in a severe thunderstorm, and in thick fog. Even the bear, which one of the volunteer groups came across, didn't scare them.
Artyom Mikaelyan, volunteer: "Of course, it was scary. But we had a task to perform. The five-year-old girl was even more scared, so we began to look for her at once".
The volunteers say that Zarina's salvation is nothing but a miracle. Everyone here believed in that miracle. Hundreds of volunteers from different regions — from Bryansk to Yekaterinburg — came to the remote village of Stepanovka over the past few days. Helicopters worked in the sky, divers worked in the lakes. Volunteers methodically combed the forests step-by-step. Over 800 people were involved. Finally, the girl was found. She spent last night in the local hospital. The ambulance helicopter landed on the soccer field in the village of Voznesenskoye. They decided to take five-year-old Zarina to the regional children's hospital in Nizhny Novgorod. They carried little Zarina in arms to the helicopter. She was conscious and tightly clutched the doll given to her by the nurses.
Malika Mirzoeva, Zarina's mother: "I thank God and all those people who were there, worried, prayed for her. Thank you very much. The doctors give an optimistic forecast. Zarina is recovering quite quickly. The girl told her mother that she wants to recover as soon as possible, go home, and see her brother".
Leonid Muravyov, Anton Kalmykov, Igor Senyurin, Yulia Mironova for Vesti from Nizhny Novgorod Oblast.
