Medical student, 21, freezes to death in -20C forest after ‘being kicked off bus for not pay 68p fare in Ukraine’
Iryna Dvoretska tried to walk home and fell in a pit in the dark, reports claim
A MEDICAL student froze to death after allegedly being kicked off a bus in a remote forest - for not paying the 68p fare.
Iryna Dvoretska, 21, tried to walk more than four miles to the nearest village in -20C after getting off the bus at 4am.
According to local media, Iryna boarded in her home village Rudnya-Knochynska to visit her sick mother in hospital in Olevsk northern Ukraine.
Along the way she was asked to pay the fare of 25 hryvnia but could not find enough cash in her handbag, reports say.
Driver Oleg Zhelinskiy allegedly ordered Iryna to get off on the country road.
It is believed Iryna started walking along the road and then tried to take a shortcut through the forest.
Her body was found two days later by her father, who is a forest ranger.
Reports say she had apparently fallen in a pit in the dark and could not climb out.
Her eyes were wide open. There was fear in them.
Iryna's aunt Nadiya Typchuk
Iryna’s sister Natalia said: "Our mother had pneumonia and her condition was getting worse.
"Iryna wanted to catch the first bus to Olevsk. She was in a hurry and forgot her money purse.”
Aunt Nadiya Typchuk said: “The driver forced her to get off the bus and drove away leaving her alone in freezing cold and far from inhabited localities.
“Iryna was found in the pit by her father. Her eyes were wide open. There was fear in them.”
The victim’s relatives reported the bus driver to police.
Police spokeswoman Alla Vashchenko said: “A criminal case was initiated.
"According to the forensic medical examination, the victim's death was caused by hypothermia of internal organs.
"The people involved are being interrogated by the police.”
Zhelinskiy faces up to five years in prison if found guilty.
The investigation is ongoing.
Iryna was reportedly a fourth year student at the Novograd-Volynsky Medical College.
She was home for Christmas which in Ukraine is celebrated on January 7 - the day before she died.
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The college said: "We remember her as a cheerful and friendly person, sympathetic to someone else's grief, with whom it was possible to share both joy and sadness."
Earlier this week a mountaineer famous for hiking in bikinis froze to death after falling in a ravine in Taiwan.
Last week a two-year-old girl died after walking out of her family home in -22C in New Hampshire, US.
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