Mother Of Woman Killed In Russian Lab Incident Speaks Out. She Has Doubts About Her Daughter’s Cause Of Death

Reports circulated across Russian social media platforms that lab technician Darya Shipilova broke a test tube while handling a strain of the pneumonic plague — however those closest to the now-deceased researcher spoke out challenging these claims.

In an in-depth report published by an independent Russian media outlet on Tuesday, Shipilova’s mother, colleagues, and former classmates all expressed significant doubts about the “broken test-tube” narrative spreading through the media and Telegram, alleging that a lab accident killed the scientist and may have started a regional plague. Lyudi Baikala (LB) published the story — with a headline translating to “Is it really the plague?!” in English — which explored Russian media blackouts and the competing narratives surrounding Shipilova’s death.

On Monday, Darya Shipilova’s 64-year-old mother Svetlana Shipilova was quarantined at an Irkutsk hospital and was tested and swabbed every day, the outlet reported.

“They’re checking for something, looking for something. Maybe they’re afraid of some other infection, so we don’t catch COVID,” the elder Shipilova told Glubina, another Russian publication.

The younger Shipilova’s neighbors spread a false rumor that her mother “couldn’t bear the loss of her daughter and died of a heart attack,” the outlet reported.

However, at the time of the article’s publication, LB reported that the mother was alive and well all-be-it quarantined in a local hospital with other family members and had the opportunity to talk with her on the record about her daughter’s death.

The mother says she’s “really struggling” and doesn’t want to “read nasty things about her child,” LB reported. At the time of the article’s publication, Darya Shipilova had still not been buried, nor had there been confirmation for a funeral.

“Who’s going to bury her if we’re sitting here in prison?” Shipilova’s mother told the outlet.

Svetlana Shipilova told LB that she still hadn’t received the official death certificate for her daughter.