A mother whose teenage daughter was killed after a javelin speared her through the eye in a sports field horror has condemned her child’s PE teacher and the 16-year-old boy who threw the lance.
Anastasia R, 13, died in hospital four days after the freak incident in Prokhladny, Russia on May 3.
Speaking out about the tragedy, the teen’s mother Elena said coach Vladimir Miroshnichenko, 51, had his back turned to his class when the 7-ft-long javelin was thrown by a student named only as Timur.
And in a shocking twist of fate, the javelin only struck the victim in the eye because she looked up just at the last moment when the boy called out a warning, Elena has alleged.
‘Not before throwing the spear, but at that very moment he threw it, then he called out to her,’ the grieving mother has said.
‘She raised her head, and the spear hit her in the eye.’
Anastasia, whose eye socket was pierced, also had her jaw broken and began to bleed internally into her lungs, according to reports.
She was rushed to hospital and remained in intensive care, but died four days later from her terrible wounds.
A 13-year-old girl was killed after being struck in the head by a spear during an athletics training session at school. Stock image shows a male javelin thrower
Pictured: Javelin coach Vladimir Miroshnichenko, 51, who is said to have turned away from his students at the time of the fatal accident
Anastasia would have turned 14 later this month.
Elena also condemned Timur’s mother for not admitting to her ‘son’s guilt.’
‘As a mother, I would have crawled on my knees pleading: ‘Forgive me, excuse me, maybe I can help,’ Elena said.
She also criticised them for failing to attend Anastasia’s funeral.
‘Not a single one came, they didn’t say: ‘Forgive me, excuse me’.
The Russian Investigative Committee has opened a criminal case into Anastasia’s death.
It said in a statement that the ‘left without the supervision of the teacher conducting the lesson, threw a javelin, which hit the head of an underage pupil of the school born in 2011.
‘The victim was immediately taken to a medical facility to receive medical assistance, where she died a few days later from the injuries she received.’
‘The investigation has studied all the circumstances of the incident, interrogated eyewitnesses, employees of the sports school and the relevant ministry, seized documentation regulating the procedure for conducting field training sessions and ensuring safety, and other measures are being taken to collect evidence,’ it added.
‘The actions of those responsible will be given a proper legal assessment.’
Officials are also assessing the actions of the teacher who left the students unsupervised.
The regional prosecutor’s office has initiated its own review into the quality of services provided by the sports school.
It was not clear whether the coach – who has not commented on the girl’s death – had been detained pending the investigation.
The teen’s death comes after an Australian high school student was impaled by a javelin in a freak accident during a PE lesson back in 2020.
The 12-year-old boy pierced his groin when he tripped over the razor-sharp gym equipment at Saint Stephen’s College in the northern Gold Coast suburb of Coomera.
The boy still had parts of the javelin inside his body when he arrived at the Gold Coast University Hospital after fire crews had broken off the ends with cutting equipment.
The boy is believed to have fallen on top of the javelin after he tried to jump over it while it was stuck in the ground, The Courier-Mail reported.
The same year in Australia, a man in his 60s was impaled by a javelin after he fell three metres through a roof.
The horrific incident happened in Gladstone, Queensland.
Emergency crews worked to remove the javelin from the man’s leg and rushed him to Gladstone hospital to treat the gruesome injury.
