Siberian gold rush after plane drops prized cargo

A massive treasure hunt has kicked off in remote Siberia after a cargo plane accidentally dropped $463m of diamonds, gold and silver.

The valuables fell off the back of a 46-year-old aircraft last week shortly after take-off from Yakutsk.

Russians have ignored police statements that all 172 gold bars – each weighing 20kg -  have been recovered and are flocking to the remote part of Siberia in a bid to find them.

The treasure hunters are braving temperatures of -24C to search the frozen countryside for the cargo, reports the Siberian Times.

Video shows some of them concentrating their search around a frozen swamp while other footage reveals a bar of gold and a bar of silver in a snowdrift.

The gold rush was triggered by conflicting official reports over the valuable cargo’s recovery.

Although officials say all 3.5tonnes have been recovered, it was initially reported by the Russian interior ministry the plane was carrying nine tonnes.

Newspaper Moskovsky Komsomolets estimated that more than half the gold and silver bars were still missing.

Local people have even drawn up maps showing the likely impact areas where the treasure fell.

After the airborne mishap last Thursday, the area around Yakutsk went into lockdown.

Hundreds of police and secret service were deployed to find the missing cargo.

The plane made an emergency landing 26km from where it took off.