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A Russian police officer carries a released baby from a school seized by heavily armed masked men and women in the town of Beslan in the province of North Ossetia near Chechnya, in this September 2, 2004 file photo. Viktor Korotayev: The Beslan school siege took place on September 1, 2004 during a festive ceremony to launch the new academic year at school No.1. Pro-Chechen gunmen seized the school and took 1,300 hostages on the first day. Some 331 people were killed, half of them children. On the second day of the siege, the captors were convinced to free several women with babies, so when a fighter of a special task unit was seen leaving the building with a child in his hands, there was hope that children could be saved. I think that was why this photo was published on the front pages of numerous publications all over the world. Throughout my career I've covered many difficult stories such as military conflicts in different countries, disasters, hostage situations. The Belsan tragedy remains the biggest psychological trauma I have experienced. (Photo by Viktor Korotayev/Reuters)
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