A heartbroken Russian blogger whose husband was killed in a dry ice poisoning accident at her 29th birthday party has received backlash for continuing to post on social media following the tragedy.
Ekaterina Didenko was widowed when dry ice was thrown into a swimming pool to create a ‘steam show’ at celebrations in Moscow, causing an outpouring of carbon dioxide.
The blogger’s husband, IT specialist Valentin Didenko, 32, was poisoned. Partygoers Natalia Monakova and Yuri Alferov, both 25, were also confirmed dead at the scene.
The heartbroken mother, who has posted videos in the aftermath documenting her grief, saw her followers soar to 1.5 million since the accident on Friday night.
Ekaterina Didenko, 29, has seen her subscribers soar from one million to 1.5 million since the accident on Friday night following the dry ice poisoning accident at her 29th birthday party
The mother and her friends are also reported to be taking part in a major TV talk show to be broadcast in Moscow tonight.
But Russian news outlets and bloggers have slammed her for posting videos following her husband’s death, branding her as ‘immoral’.
Major Russian newspaper, Komsomolskaya Pravda, headlined its story ‘Hype on Blood’ and criticised her for continuing to post in the aftermath of the tragic incident.
‘In these mournful hours, each of the participants in the tragedy, in order not to lose subscribers, was catching the hype on death as he or she could,’ the news outlet wrote.
Russian blogger and author Lena Miro blasted the wife as ‘immoral’ for posting videos from the hospital where her husband died, likening it to broadcasting from a ‘morgue’.
The blogger’s husband, IT specialist Valentin Didenko, 32, was poisoned when dry ice was thrown into a swimming pool to create a ‘steam show’
Ekaterina Didenko was widowed when dry ice was thrown into a swimming pool to create a ‘steam show’, causing an outpouring of carbon dioxide
Photos show the dry ice being tipped into the pool to create ‘steam’, resulting in three deaths
In a post she wrote: ‘The husband dies, and the blogger is fluttering her fake eye lashes in a sad way… the Instagrammer is upset because it’s on her birthday.
‘And if it was on a different day would you be less upset?’
Ms Didenko shared a new video showing how she gave her four-year-old daughter a doll, saying it was from her late father.
‘Who gave you this doll?’ She asked her daughter, who replied: ‘Daddy.’
Ms Didenko asks her: ‘And how did you call her, tell us?’, to which she replies: ‘Valentina’ (named after Valentin, her father).
It comes after Ms Didenko shared a video yesterday announcing the loss of her partner – and revealing her daughter Nastya had asked a painful question following her father’s death.
Ms Didenko shared a new video showing how she gave her four-year-old daughter a doll, saying it was from her late father
Ms Didenko, a trained pharmacist, had posted from hospital before being told that her husband was dead, and in a tearful video later confirming that Valentin – Valya – ‘is not with us any more’.
She has since told her expanding circle of followers: ‘I had time to speak to three psychologists and after that I feel better.
‘It is much better now. Yesterday I was sobbing all day through.’
But she admitted: ‘There are still moments when I’m flooded with emotions and crying again.’
Ms Didenko is pictured holding balloons for her 29th birthday moments before the tragedy in Moscow
She also told how her husband – who emptied the dry ice into the pool – had had a premonition of his death for several years and had asked her to cremate him.
She said she had told him: ‘Why are you thinking about your death… you have your whole life ahead.’
She revealed how she planned to throw his ashes to the wind in a field as he wished.
But one friend warned her and her friends that they are ‘building a career on death’ by the constant postings.
‘A terrible persecution has begun,’ said the blogger called Alexandra.
‘Everyone is trying to take advantage of the situation, turn it around to raise ratings, earn money.’
Natalia Monakova, one of the deceased, is pictured in an Instagram post before the tragedy
Yuri Alferov (pictured), 25, died after Valentin Didenko (not pictured), 32, poured 55lb of dry ice into a swimming pool in Moscow
Another said social media had reached ‘a new low’ with the postings.
But one supporter hit back likening Ms Didenko to a poet from the past who wrote about the most traumatic moments in life.
Nicknamed Dr Philipp he said: ‘ A blogger is a vocation. It’s like a poet or writer 200 or 300 years ago.
‘We live for subscribers. Without them, life makes no sense to us.
‘A person shares emotions live with their subscribers – this is normal and expected.
The party was for blogger Ekaterina Didenko, pictured last night (right) and this morning (left), who was celebrating her 29th birthday in Moscow
Pictured: Guests at Didenko’s party in Moscow before the tragedy took place this week
Police are pictured arriving at the scene in Moscow after the tragedy, which killed three
‘Previously, poets wrote poems about their experiences, which in fact also are not needed by anyone, or from some event like Pushkin’s death.
‘Now they are broadcasting in the realities of the 21st century.
‘Is it so hard to understand?’
The boyfriend of another victim Natalia Monakova, 25, was more circumspect, suspending their joint social media.
‘I will tell everything but a little later,’ posted the grieving Andrey Goiko, 29, who was treated by doctors for carbon dioxide poisoning.
The boyfriend of another victim Natalia Monakova, 25, was more circumspect, suspending their joint social media
‘I was praying and sobbing all night through in the hospital.
‘P.S. Natasha I love you.’
A highly qualified pharmacist, Ms Didenko offers tips on keeping home medicine cupboards leaner and more effective while also sharing intimate moments of her own life.
In some videos she is seen filming chemical experiments with her young daughter.
Dry ice is frozen carbon dioxide and which produces heavy vapour when put into water.
The vapour can cause high levels of carbon dioxide in the blood when released in a poorly ventilated space.
Yuri Alferov (pictured), 25, died after Valentin Didenko (not pictured), 32, poured 55lb of dry ice into a swimming pool in Moscow
The boyfriend, Andrey Goiko, of another victim Natalia Monakova, 25, was more circumspect, suspending their joint social media
Mr Didenko wanted the dry ice ‘to create an impressive steam show’ as party guests jumped into the pool, it was reported.
But as soon as the ice was poured, people started fainting. Moments earlier, guests had been laughing and clinking glasses.
Mother-of-two Ms Didenko is a popular Instagram blogger with one million people following her account, which gives advice on medicines for home use.
The Russian Investigative Committee confirmed a criminal case was opened into causing death by negligence.
The ‘preliminary reason for the death of three (partygoers) was mechanical asphyxia because their airways were blocked’, reported crime channel 112.
The three victims were in the pool when the dry ice was released and could not breathe.