Plotnikova Marina Vladimirovna (1974-1991) - the heroine of Russia. Shortly before her death, she managed to get a certificate of completion of a rural school. She drowned, saving three children who almost went to the bottom in the river.
Biography
Was born on May 11, 1974 in the small village of Zubrilovo (Penza region) in a large family. The girl’s mother Tatyana Nikolaevna raised 6 children alone: Elena, Zhanna, Sergey, Alexander, Vladimir, Natalya and Marina, who was the 3rd heir in a friendly family.
She took part in the life of Zubrilovo and high school, was hardworking and a little uncommunicative, moderately open. I enjoyed studying with lagging classmates and primary school students, the schoolgirl was the right hand of her class teacher - Valentina Mikhailovna Mizina. Shortly before her death, she graduated from the eleventh grade, an entry was kept in her personal diary: “When will my life change dramatically? I guess I’m dreaming about it in vain. Now I’m in the last grade, and everything seems to be in the sixth or fifth. I’ll get a document about graduation and go to enter - no, for sure, I will soon start to miss home. Soon, I’ll pick up documents from the university and come to my native places."
Fateful day
Summer turned out to be extremely hot, children daily escaped from the heat, swimming in the large Khoper river. Most often, they bathed near an old mill, where a river begins to bend, and in the very center a small island with colorful shores of sand and spreading tree branches is clearly visible. You can easily swim to the island, but steep slopes and screw holes await people near the shore, because of which accidents occur on sunny days.
On June 30, the rural girl Natalya Vorobyova and two Plotnikova’s sisters bathed in a cool river near the sandy shore. Toward evening, Marina came to the place where the children frolic, before leaving she said to her grandmother: "I’ll go and wash my head." Suddenly, Natalia Vorobyova began to move farther from the sandy shore, was at a great depth and began to go under water. Marina Vladimirovna became scared for the child, the girl rushed after Vorobyova and managed to push her to the tall bushes. Plotnikova looked back and realized that the younger sisters, worrying about her, rushed to save her. Jeanne and Elena fell into a quick water spin and began to sink. Marina saved the children, but greatly weakened, failed to get out of the Khoper River. She found eternal peace in her homeland.
After the tragedy
The terrible death of a young Marina, who saved 3 minors from the Khoper River, received a wide response and has been actively discussed in the Zubrilovsky media for more than a year, as well as among fellow villagers. The heroic act of Marina was compared with the exploits of children and adolescents during the Second World War.
By the decree of the head of state Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin “for courage and perseverance shown during the rescue of minor citizens, ” Plotnikova was awarded the Order of the Hero of the Russian Federation. A resident of the village of Zubrilovo became the very first girl and sixth in the history of Russia to receive this title (three pilots and two astronauts received the order before Marina).
