BESLAN, Russia, Sept. 3 (UPI) -- Teachers and students who survived the siege at a Russian school tell horrifying stories of hundreds of people penned without food or water by gunmen.
One survivor, Diana, told the BBC the people trapped in the school had nothing to eat or drink and survived by urinating into bottles and then filtering their urine through their shirts before drinking it.
The number of captives has varied in Russian media to as many as 1,500. Other estimates are closer to 600 or 700. They were held for more than two days before Russian troops stormed the building Friday.
Rita Gadzhinova, a teacher at the school, told the newspaper Isvestiya the captors never removed the ski-masks covering their faces. But she said the men had Chechen or Ingush accents.
Another hostage described two women among the hostage-takers who blew themselves up on the first day, killing several male hostages as well.
Gadhinova said that the gunmen would escort children to the toilets in the building and fire their guns into the air to make the younger ones stop crying.
