Do NOT drive on thin ice, motorists warned in Siberia

Winter roads on frozen lakes and rivers are safe as long as drivers stick to the checked tracks where the ice is sufficiently thick. In this video a Nissan X-Trail driver takes a wrong turn on the Baikal ice - and it costs him his life, after he helped his parents escape from the sinking car. 

The footage, from 2011, has been released by police as a warning: to stop deaths on Siberia's famous winter ice roads. 

From the Urals to the Pacific, there are thousands of kilometres of winter roads on lakes and rivers. They are crucial to getting about in Siberia in winter. 

In this case, the driver, aged 29, confused the signs and strayed into a danger area, despite warnings from his worried father. The link to the footage is here and below is the translated dialogue as the drive reaches its tragic climax:

Father: I'm asking you... let's go in the other direction, here are the signs... 

Son: yes, here are the signs and I'm going straight there. The sign is from the right and from the left.

Father: Ok then, I stay silent....

Son: The signs mark the road.

Father: This is the 'Stop' sign.. 

Suddenly the car plunges.

Son: Damn! Quick! Open the doors! Open the doors and swim 

Mother screams: 'Where?! Where? Call quickly! To our guys! To EMERCOM! [The Russian emergency service] 

Son screams: 'Open the doors and swim away

Father: I can't... the door won't open 

Son: Dad 

Father: Can't open the door 

Mother: Please call quickly to EMERCOM. He told you there's a 'Stop' sign...

Son: Smash the windows! 

Some dull thuds are recorded on the dashcam.

Father: Can't open!

Mother: Call somebody, call EMERCOM, Yurochka [Yury] Call EMERCOM!

Then the car sinks and video stops. The son perished in the tragedy but his parents were saved. Rescuers plucked the parents from Baikal's icy waters and they were rushed to hospital. 

The family has not been named but their ordeal is being used as a warning to drivers. The footage was restored after the car sank to the bottom of the lake - the deepest and oldest in the world. 

The police warning is timely. Only last month Irkutsk beautician Natalia Tomilova, 36, and her nine year old daughter Eva died when their Toyota Voxy car plunged through Baikal's ice. 

In this case, the driver escaped. He, too, evidently confused the makeshift signs on the ice roads. The ice was only four centimetres thick and unable to support the car.

The State Inspectorate for Small Vessels, responsible for motor traffic across Baikal, every year warn about the dangers of driving on the ice. 

Chief inspector Dmitry Mironov said: 'Every year there are people who wish to try their luck. Remember, driving outside checked and approved ice crossings is not only forbidden. It is deadly. So observe all the rules. You'll save your life and the lives of  loved ones.'