The summer of 2016 was supposed to be a season of freedom and joy for 12-year-old Yulia Korol and her twin brother, Dmitri. Orphans raised by their grandmother in Moscow, the twins were thrilled to be headed to the Park Hotel Syamozero camp in Russia’s Karelia region—a place where children could swim, play, and explore nature.

But on June 16, that dream turned into a nightmare.

Into the Storm

Forty-seven children set out that morning on what was meant to be a simple sailing adventure across Lake Syamozero. Only four counselors came with them—some barely older than the campers themselves. Dark clouds were already forming, but the boats pushed away from shore anyway.

By the time the storm struck, it was too late to turn back.

Winds whipped across the lake. Waves rose to nearly twelve feet high. Boats overturned, rafts splintered, and children were hurled into the freezing water. Screams were swallowed by thunder. Chaos replaced laughter.

Yulia clung desperately to her twin brother. For hours, the two held onto each other, refusing to let go as waves crashed over their heads. But the lake was merciless. A massive swell tore them apart, pulling Yulia under.

She blacked out.

Waking Alone

When Yulia opened her eyes, it was morning. She was cold, soaked, and lying on the stony shore of the lake. Her body ached, her lips were blue, but she was alive.

Staggering to her feet, she began to walk—barefoot except for the socks clinging to her frozen skin. She didn’t know where her brother was. She didn’t know if anyone else had survived. But she knew one thing: she had to try.

What She Found

Not far from where she awoke, Yulia stumbled across a boy lying motionless. His lips were pale, his body still. She knelt beside him and tried, with her small hands, to bring him back. But it was too late.

Further along, she found another boy—this one bleeding, broken, and unable to walk. His eyes met hers, pleading silently for help. She could not carry him. She could not heal him. But she could not abandon him either.

So she made a choice.

She would walk. She would find help. She would not stop.

The Walk to Kudama

Yulia walked for four hours, every step burning against the rough ground. She swam across a river, her body trembling with exhaustion, but she did not turn back. She followed instinct, desperation, and sheer courage until, finally, she reached the small village of Kudama.

There, she collapsed on the doorstep of a man named Alexander Zyamov.

“Obviously, she was in a state of shock,” he later recalled. “She was trembling.”

Through her tears, Yulia managed to tell him:
“I am Yulia. Lots of children are dead, we were in boats. One dead boy is at the bank. I tried to resuscitate him but he was dead. A second one is alive but he can’t walk and is covered in blood.”

Her words triggered a rescue mission that would save dozens of lives.

A Child Who Saved Children

In the end, 34 children survived the tragedy on Lake Syamozero. They survived because one small girl refused to give up.

Rescuers later said without Yulia’s courage—without her four-hour trek through cold, hunger, and fear—many more children would have been lost.

Among the survivors was her twin, Dmitri. Against all odds, brother and sister were reunited and returned to Moscow.

More Than Survival

Yulia’s story is not just one of survival. It is a story of instinct, bravery, and a child’s refusal to surrender to despair. She was only twelve years old, yet she carried herself with a strength most adults could scarcely imagine.

That day on the lake, the storm tried to claim them all. But because Yulia rose from the water, because she walked and spoke when others could not, dozens of children were given another chance at life.

Her legacy is not only in her survival—it is in every child who came home from Syamozero because she refused to stop.