Wednesday, Dec 06 2023

All Cities

Choose Your City

'Average a Westerner can swim in lake Baikal is 1,5 minutes'

Marc Di Duca

Plane loses its $368 million cargo of gold, platinum and diamonds on takeoff

By The Siberian Times reporter

15 March 2018

Gems and precious metals rain over Russia’s coldest region as police and secret services stage emergency search.

Police sealed off the runway and a vast search is underway

The plane with ten tons of gold, platinum and diamonds lost part of its cargo after taking off from Yakutsk airport today.

More rained down as the aircraft gained height.

The Nimbus Airlines AN-12 cargo plane hit problems during takeoff; the treasures fell out of the hold all over the runway.

The plane then dropped some bars of gold as far as 26 kilometres from the airport.

The crew decided to land at the nearby airport of Magan, some 26 kilometres north-west of Yakutsk.

Police sealed off the runway and a vast search is underway.

Plane loses its $368 million cargo of gold, platinum and diamonds on takeoff

The plane was en route to Krasnoyarsk and further to Kupol (Dome) mine.

The cargo was reported to be owned by Chukota Mining and Geological company; 75 per cent of the private company is owner by Canadian Kinross Gold.

Technical engineers at the Yakutsk airport who prepared the plane for takeoff have been detained.

The value of the load was put at 21 billion roubles.

Yakutsk is capital of Yakutia or the Sasha Republic, Russia’s diamond producing region.

Plane loses its $368 million cargo of gold, platinum and diamonds on takeoff

plane loses precious cargo of gold, platinum and diamonds

Plane loses its $368 million cargo of gold, platinum and diamonds on takeoff

Comments (32)

All comments
Best rated comments

Add comment

Would you believe it? All that gold to airlift & they use a ramshackle dilapidated plane. Anyway, who ever finds the gold can keep it for as the saying goes "Finders keepers - losers weepers.

Jaker, Dundalk

16/03/2018 11:30

I wish some of the treasury come into my hands.

Nuno, Islamabad Pakistan

16/03/2018 07:19

Nimbus Airlines? Does that fly to Narnia or Trumpkin? Try
Kosmos Air instead owned by a Russian State company
RSC Energia (РКК «Энергия», RKK “Energiya”), is a Russian manufacturer of ballistic missile, spacecraft and space station components. The company is the prime developer and contractor of the Russian manned spaceflight program; it also owns a majority of Sea Launch.[3] Its name is derived from Sergei Korolev, the first chief of its design bureau, and the Russian word for energy.

Budapest7, United Kingdom

16/03/2018 07:01

It would appear from the video that the rear loading ramp was destroyed by the cargo. This would imply that the cargo shifted backwards on take off (cargo nets and straps broke). The crew are very lucky that they did lose the cargo or the plane would have been uncontrollable with such a shift in the center of gravity.

Simon, Australia

16/03/2018 05:44

Wow...Just WOW! Looks like SOMEbody's gonna lose their job,to say the very least....☮⚜

Mardifleur, Lighthouse Point,FL,USA

16/03/2018 04:58

Wow...Just WOW! Looks like SOMEbody's gonna lose their job,to say the very least....☮⚜

Mardifleur, Lighthouse Point,FL,USA

16/03/2018 04:57

Aircraft have floor loading limits (weight per square meter, or something like that). Gold, being exceptionally heavy, is a big risk factor. Clearly, these guys exceeded what the structure of the aircraft was designed to carry. Wherever I've flown, the crew if the final determiner of what is allows, how things are loaded, etc. Sorry, but pilot error.

Rob, USA

16/03/2018 02:36

I hope that one package falls like a gift for someone.

Víctor izquierdo, Mexico

16/03/2018 02:14

I wish it could rain like this over my city!

KitKat, Colorado Springs, CO

16/03/2018 02:07

If that’s their diamond producing area why were they loading precious metals rather than diamonds but more importantly, right! Get those Canadians out of there if they know what’s good for them! No offense to Canadians, I actually think the USA is more “predatory “ than Canada by far as far as dealing with other countries.

Faye, South Carolina, USA

16/03/2018 02:01

Cargo never loaded, few ingots toss on runway for pictures, story to distract attention from real happenings. dont believe media like sheep

Vlad, Moscow

16/03/2018 01:36

It's karma because the company is Canadian and should be owned by Russia.

Andres Suarez, Mexico

16/03/2018 00:59

@ Jason Magan airport is not a Magadan Airport

Alexander, Novosibirsk

16/03/2018 00:57

Magadan airport a bit further away than 26 Km North West of Yakutsk....