One boy 'froze to death', two suffered severe frostbite, on way to Mother's Day party rehearsal

After school finished on Saturday, the three boys - brothers Yegor, 13, Vladimir, 14, and their friend Anton 16 - decided to walk in in minus 33C to perform in the practice for a Mother's Day celebration in their village of Shaloty, in Irkutsk region. The distance from their school to the village is 10 kilometres but they got lost in a heavy snowstorm.

Teachers reported the boys missing from the bus and began a search. But it was only at midnight that the police were called in, and started a massive hunt. 

It was close to morning when the officers found the boys in the woods. They had tried to huddle together for warmth. 

'I woke up, Yegor was not breathing, and Anton went out somewhere', said grieving Vladimir.

Yegor died from hypothermia, said medical staff. The two other boys suffered severe frostbite of the hands and feet. They were taken to the district hospital.

Andrey Shtedriev, in charge of their treatment at the City Clinical Hospital in Irkutsk, said: 'The teenagers are in a state of moderate severity. 

'Their life is not in danger now. However, it us too early to tell the effects of frostbite.'

Russia marked Mother's Day on 30 November. Officials did not release the full names of the boys.