One must never underestimate Mother Nature, and that’s a lesson you’d expect ice fishers to have learned from their first outing on frozen water.
To a large group of Russian anglers, the lesson came too late and at a very high price. They returned from their fishing trip in Voevoda Bay off Russky Island to find their cars had sunk into the frozen waters.
Yes, they’d parked their cars on the ice and, to make matters even worse, they parked them closely together. As you may have heard, a little something called climate change has hit Russia the hardest, with temperatures reaching unprecedented highs.
Russia is so hot right now that authorities imported tons of snow into Moscow before Christmas, to get residents into the holiday spirit, dumping it by truck onto the streets. True story. Christmas without snow isn’t really working for Russians.
A combination of high temperatures and the way in which fishermen parked their cars led to the disaster, sources tell the local media, as cited by Metro. Eyewitnesses describe the incident as a “domino effect:” because cars were parked so closely, the moment the ice cracked under one, all the others went down as well.
“It was like domino effect,” says one eyewitness. “The ice cracked – some cars were partly under water, others had only roofs above the water. It is scary just to look at this.”
We should add that some cars went down completely, and you could only tell there was a car there before because there was an empty space.
Initial reports mentioned about 20 or so vehicles damaged in the incident, but Main Directorate of the Ministry of Emergencies of Russia for the Primorsky Territory says it’s received 45 reports of sunken vehicles so far. There could be more, but owners are, for some reason, taking their time in reporting it.
The Russian Emergencies Ministry brought in tow trucks to help drivers recover their now-useless vehicles, and tow companies tried to make a buck off their misery, the Mirror says. Apparently, private towing companies were charging as much as $485 to get a car from the frozen waters.
We’re all for the “get rich or die tryin’” approach to life, but skinning a person who’s already lost their personal vehicle (most likely) is a bit too much.
Yes, they’d parked their cars on the ice and, to make matters even worse, they parked them closely together. As you may have heard, a little something called climate change has hit Russia the hardest, with temperatures reaching unprecedented highs.
Russia is so hot right now that authorities imported tons of snow into Moscow before Christmas, to get residents into the holiday spirit, dumping it by truck onto the streets. True story. Christmas without snow isn’t really working for Russians.
A combination of high temperatures and the way in which fishermen parked their cars led to the disaster, sources tell the local media, as cited by Metro. Eyewitnesses describe the incident as a “domino effect:” because cars were parked so closely, the moment the ice cracked under one, all the others went down as well.
“It was like domino effect,” says one eyewitness. “The ice cracked – some cars were partly under water, others had only roofs above the water. It is scary just to look at this.”
We should add that some cars went down completely, and you could only tell there was a car there before because there was an empty space.
Initial reports mentioned about 20 or so vehicles damaged in the incident, but Main Directorate of the Ministry of Emergencies of Russia for the Primorsky Territory says it’s received 45 reports of sunken vehicles so far. There could be more, but owners are, for some reason, taking their time in reporting it.
The Russian Emergencies Ministry brought in tow trucks to help drivers recover their now-useless vehicles, and tow companies tried to make a buck off their misery, the Mirror says. Apparently, private towing companies were charging as much as $485 to get a car from the frozen waters.
We’re all for the “get rich or die tryin’” approach to life, but skinning a person who’s already lost their personal vehicle (most likely) is a bit too much.