The Beslan terrorist attack in Russia's North Ossetia left 331 hostages dead, including 172 children. "Of those, 26 victims died of their wounds in hospitals," according to the latest information available to Russia's Emergencies Ministry.

As of today, 76 bodies remain unidentified. Two hundred and forty people, including 157 children, still receive medical treatment, an Emergencies Ministry official told Itar-Tass.

Meanwhile, humanitarian cargoes continue to come to North Ossetia. An Il-76 plane flew foreign relief supplies to the republic on Wednesday. "Almost 11 tonnes of medicines and medical equipment came from Serbia and Montenegro, while another 4.6 tonnes were delivered under the UN World Food Program," the official said.

In all, some 300 tonnes of humanitarian aid have been delivered to this North Ossetian town from Russia, 14 foreign states and six CIS states.

On Wednesday, North Ossetia's Deputy Social Development Minister Zhanna Gasiyeva said the republic had begun to pay compensations from the federal budget to Beslan tragedy victims.

Authorities will pay 100,000 roubles to relatives of each fatality, 50,000 roubles to each gravely wounded person, and 15,000 roubles to each lightly wounded victim or hostage who escaped unhurt.

The money is placed on the personal account of the victim.

North Ossetia already has the money to pay compensations to the first group of 603 people, and passed documents to Moscow for another group of 456. Compensation money for the second group is expected to be wired to the republic within the next five days.

Source: Itar-Tass