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Two huge URAL trucks - one loaded with oil - crashed through ice on Lena River ‘winter road’

By The Siberian Times reporter
12 January 2018

Drivers and passengers escaped their sinking lorries but oil is leaking into the world’s 11th longest river, prompting a local state of emergency.

The drivers went off the officially permitted ice road and onto to thinner ice.  Picture: EMERCOM in Irkutsk region

Officials in Irkutsk region claim the drivers strayed from officially sanctioned ice roads on the frozen surface of the river. 

Such roads are crucial to keeping the economy moving in Siberia — see our remarkable video filmed further north on the same river. 

The oil tanker was carrying 20 tons of oil when it sank through the ice. 

The second truck was loaded with a crane.

Reports said the trucks were travelling too close - putting excess pressure on the ice.

The mayor of Kirensky district, Kirill Svistelin, said the drivers went off the officially permitted ice road and onto to thinner ice. 

Two huge URAL trucks crashed through ice


Two huge URAL trucks crashed through ice


Two huge URAL trucks crashed through ice


Two huge URAL trucks crashed through iceTwo huge URAL trucks crashed through ice

Reports said the trucks were travelling too close - putting excess pressure on the ice. Picture: EMERCOM in Irkutsk region

'They violated the safety rules by driving off the safe ice road,' he said.

'We are calling a state of emergency in the area. 

'Rescuers are driving their now to set buoys and limit oil poisoning.'

Both cargo carriers were reported to belong to a newly-registered Eastern Siberia crude oil and petroleum gas extracting company.

Winter road


Winter road

Cars moving along the winter road Yakutsk - Nizhny Bestyakh in Yakutia. Picture: The Siberian Times

The company’s headquarters are registered in Moscow. 

The trucks were en route to Yakutia, Russia’s coldest region. 

Our recent story on Siberia ice roads is here

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