By Marwa Eltagouri
March 15
One of the coldest regions of the world saw some rain Thursday – a shower of silver and gold, that is.
A plane carrying 9.3 tons of precious metals lost part of its cargo Thursday as it was taking off from Yakutsk Airport in Siberia, scattering treasure across the runway as it gained height. Gold bars fell out of the Nimbus Airlines Antonov AN-12 cargo plane and landed as far as 16 miles from the airport, according to the Siberian Times.
The plane had been taking off after refueling at the airport when its cargo door flew open. At least 3.4 tons of doré bars – semi-pure alloys of gold and silver – came tumbling out, according to the Tass news agency. The precious metals had come from the Kupol mine in Russia's Chukotka region and in total weighed about 18,600 pounds.
The plane was headed for the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, according to a statement from an investigative committee, Tass reported.
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