Tons Of Gold, Platinum And Diamonds Worth £271 Million Falls Out Of Russian Plane
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Surely everyone's had that thought where life was getting a bit rough and you just wished a huge wad of cash fell from the sky to rid of some of those problems. Well, you'll be kicking yourself for not being in Yakutsk airport today when a cargo plane had a minor mishap and ended up spilling its precious freight.
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But it wasn't food or aid, but hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of gold, platinum and diamonds.
The Nimbus Airlines AN-12 cargo plane was taking off from the Russian runaway, but as it climbed into the heavens, part of the door was ripped open opened, spewing the precious metals and jewels onto the ground below.
Some bars of gold landed a whopping 26 kilometres away from the airport, according to The Siberian Times, and police quickly swooping in to cordon off the runway to retrieve the easier to find blocks.
Imagine going about your normal day and having a few gold bars, worth around £387,949 (if it was a 12.5kg Gold Bullion Good Delivery Bar), land in your backyard.
A statement has been released by Yakutsk airport, which says: "When taking off from the Yakutsk airport, the left flap of the cargo hatch was broken by an air flow. The crew decided to return the aircraft to Yakutsk.
"It should be noted that the aircraft was prepared for the flight by the technicians who are part of the crew of this vessel. The aircraft was checked before they were checked out, they filled in a maintenance card for the operational maintenance of the aircraft.
"According to this document, the aircraft was serviceable and prepared for the flight."
Unfortunately for anyone in the area who might head out to find any remaining cargo, TASS News Agency reports everything has been accounted for.
One person wrote on Twitter: "Siri, tickets for flight from Moscow to Yakutsk."
While you might have missed your opportunity to strike it rich in Russia, don't lose hope just yet as you could find some luck under the sea.
During World War I and World War II, 7,500 British merchant ships were torpedoed and sunk and more than 700 of these vessels were official 'Gold Carriers'.
They were shipping cargoes of gold bullion across the globe to pay for munitions and supplies that the British government desperately needed for the armed forces, but also ordinary civilians at home who were struggling on rations.
That means that at the bottom of the oceans there are vast quantities of British gold.
Research teams in the UK, the US, and Canada have spent the last 25 years looking for the British gold and they now know where it is.
Using expert salvage technology, an organisation called Britannia's Gold is planning to salvage the treasure at the bottom of the ocean. Surely they haven't found every ship so you better start searching.
