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

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. 

'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.

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.