January 26, 2004

10 Tons of Beer Rescued

There was a news item last week (didn't blog it - was up north) regarding a delivery truck in Siberia, a River and its cargo: Ten Tons of Beer The Russian army volunteered to rescue it and succeeded. The Moscow Times has the report: bq. After cooling off in a watery grave for more than three weeks, 10 tons of beer have been rescued from beneath the ice of a Siberian river with the help of a T-72 tank, Emergency Situations Ministry troops and six divers. Its fridge, a KamAZ truck, was not so lucky. bq. One diver was injured in the operation Tuesday, but the beer is good enough to be sold, if at a discount, said the beer's producer, Omsk-based Rosor, which is perhaps best known for its Sibirskaya Korona label. bq. The beer ended up beneath the ice of the Irtysh River in the Omsk region after the truck delivering it sank while crossing a southern passage over the river just a few days before New Year's. bq. The KamAZ truck, whose manufacturer won the Paris-Dakar race through the African desert just a week ago, apparently found the going tougher in Siberia's freezing temperatures. bq. The driver and a passenger managed to escape as the ice gave way, but the vehicle and the beer sank to cold storage, where it remained for the next 24 days. bq. Authorities quickly decided to raise the truck from the riverbed over fears that it could block shipping. bq. "It could have created an emergency when spring comes and we need to transport fuel, gravel, sand and coal to Kazakhstan," Pavel Shokin, the deputy head of Omsk's emergency department, said on NTV television. Yeah - that's the story. A CRISIS if the shipping is blocked. It's only ten tons of beer, let's pull it out of the river. Heh... Posted by DaveH at January 26, 2004 9:14 PM