Two Russian schoolboys, working as cloakroom attendants when the recent terrorist attack occurred at Moscow’s Crocus City Hall, have been hailed as heroes for assisting in the rescue of hundreds of fleeing concertgoers.
Islam Khalilov, 15, and Artyom Donskoy, 14 were awarded medals for bravery in a ceremony by Russia’s commissioner for children’s rights.
On March 22nd, gunmen stormed the Crocus and began firing on those attending a rock concert before burning the theater down.
Khalilov—an immigrant from the Central Asian nation of Kyrgyzstan, told reporters he thought that some workers were doing “noisy” repair work in the hall, but realized something was wrong when people came running.
He and Donskoy helped lead the fleeing attendees away from dead-end hallways and locked maintenance doors and out through the exits.
“I understood that if I didn’t react, many people including me would lose their lives,” Islam said, according to the BBC. He added that he was the last to exit the venue, “so that I didn’t leave anyone behind”.
As in America, Russia has a difficult relationship with Muslims and their faith, and indeed the attack is believed to have been perpetrated by four men from the majority-Muslim country of Tajikistan. While no doubt some prejudicial Moscovites will blame their faith for the attack, Khalilov is also a Muslim, and he is credited with saving at least as many people.
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The Grand Mufti of Russia, an important Islamic religious leader named Ravil Gaynutdin, said Khalilov would be presented with the Medal of Muslims of Russia during Friday prayers this week.
A reward was also forthcoming to the young man from the popular Russian Rapper Morgenshtern, who said he would send the boy 1 million roubles $10,900.
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