In Russia, Gold Literally Falls Out of the Sky: 20-Kilogram Bricks Slip Out of Cargo Plane

A bar of gold that looks like an ordinary yellow 20-kilogram brick has fallen from the sky near the Yakutsk Airport, along with the other 200 bars - 9 tons of precious metal bars were dropped by a cargo plane.

A bar of gold that looks like an ordinary yellow 20-kilogram brick has fallen from the sky near the Yakutsk Airport, along with the other 200 bars — 9 tons of precious metal bars were dropped by a cargo plane. A breakdown caused a Golden Brick Road to appear on the runway: An-12 aircraft lost its cargo bay hatch upon take off. The hatch was found near the local market. The bars covered the airfield with an even layer of gold. The estimated cause of such hail is 22 billion rubles. Naturally, the airport was closed after the incident, and every bystander became a suspect. According to the witnesses, the police was searching for those who found the bars before the security arrived. Anyway, the Canadian company who owned the cargo said nothing went missing, and all bars were quickly gathered. They are now stored in a high-security warehouse. The bars were actually an alloy of gold and silver. However, the locals aren't giving up. They're "scanning" every meter of the surroundings, driven by their hope. Georgy Podgorny will tell us what they expect to find.

 

- Good evening, Georgy. Greetings. What if someone gets lucky?

- No one did so far. But, some were lucky to survive the golden bombardment. All the gold was recovered, but Yakuts decided not to believe the official reports. They're sure they're being deceived, and even figured out the possible drop site. The golden trail is several kilometers long, according to some couch experts. Thousands of locals have simultaneously set off on their chaotic search. Some of them were scouting the surroundings of the auto market and another airport.

Stranger: "There might be a few people here or none, it's hard to tell. They might come from the private houses. Some people are wandering around, bandits or the police. A suspicious car is parked over there".

Treasure hunters are being cautious. They understand that they would get in trouble with the law sooner than they could find and sell a gold bar.

Stanislav Alexandrov, lawyer: "A person who finds a gold bar, in this case, could be arrested after trying to sell it, and charged with illegal possession and sale of precious metals. In such case, it might be considered a felony and punished with a 7-year prison sentence or up to 7 years of community service".

However, not everything that litters is gold. It's a so-called Doré alloy. 20-kilogram bars also contain silver and might contain some other elements. The proportions remain unclear. Refining is required to figure them out and determine the cost of the bars.

Eduard Utkin, Goldsmith: "If we consider the fact that the airplane was carrying pure 100% gold, then 9 tons would cost 21-22 billion rubles, judging from the market price of 2.5 billion per ton. But, I doubt it was pure gold. The percentage remains unclear, it could be 50, 70, or 80%, so the price might be lower".

It appears the multi-billion cost of the cargo was extremely exaggerated. Moreover, we know that 172 bars were picked. If we do the math it's approximately 3500 tons of precious metal — one-third of the cargo. There is another question. How did it come to a golden hail in Yakutsk?

Oleg Serov, former pilot: "They were lucky to survive. The bars aren't transported in piles but rather in containers, which might have been loosely fixated, so they might have slid down and smashed the hell out of the cargo bay hatch, ripping it the hell off".

All the gold has been recovered and will soon be recast. But, who is to blame and who will pay for the plane repairs? Was it negligence or an intended provocation? Investigators are yet to answer these questions.

That was Georgy Podgorny, reporting on the Yakut Gold Rush.