Woman swept away in Russian ice bath tragedy caught on video

A cut hole in the Oredezh River became a death trap for 40-year-old lawyer Anna Uskova when a strong current of about 3 meters per second carried her away almost immediately. The video of the plunge captured the moment a ritual dip turned into a rescue emergency, with no margin for error once she disappeared under the ice.

The incident happened on January 19, 2022, during Orthodox Epiphany bathing near Vyra in Gatchinsky District, Leningrad Oblast, south of St. Petersburg. Uskova, described in reports as a mother of two, entered the excavated opening in the frozen river as part of the annual Russian Orthodox observance held on January 19 to mark the baptism of Jesus.

Epiphany bathing has long been treated by Russian Orthodox believers as a spiritual act with healing meaning, and thousands take part each year in icy water rituals. But the scene on the Oredezh River showed how different a natural river plunge is from a controlled ice bath. The water here was moving, the depth was unknown, and the opening had been cut into a river with a dangerous current, not prepared as a safe cold-plunge setup.

Her husband, identified in some reports as Yury Uskov and described as a businessman or entrepreneur, jumped in after her but could not save her. Multiple accounts said her children were there and screamed as she vanished beneath the ice, a detail that turned the footage into something far more harrowing than a winter-swim clip. Once she was pulled away from the hole, the current left little chance of recovery.

Later reports said divers and volunteers searched for days. Some accounts said her body was recovered about 1 kilometer from the scene, 9 days later. The location, the current, and the speed of the loss are what make the case so stark: this was not a backyard plunge tub or a supervised cold exposure session. It was open water in a river moving fast enough to turn a religious ritual into a fatal rescue risk.

That is the hard line the video draws. A cold bath is one thing. A hole cut into a flowing river, with current strong enough to sweep a person away in seconds, is something else entirely.