Shift workers spent 12 hours in icy water after their all-terrain vehicle fell through the ice in Chukotka

The road home turned into an emergency on the ice

A group of shift workers who had spent eight months working at an enterprise in the Chukotka settlement of Komsomolsky nearly died on their way home. Their employer paid for their tickets to Novosibirsk, where their families were waiting, and the workers traveled to the airport in Pevek by all-terrain vehicle across a frozen river. About 150 kilometers before their destination, the ice could not bear the weight of the vehicle, and it plunged into the water. This was reported by Mash.

12 hours in icy water

The people found themselves in the middle of the river in severe cold and were unable to get out on their own. “If I die, raise my son — we are in the middle of the river, the ice has cracked”, says a woman from the group in trouble in a video (the recording was published by Mash). Help arrived only 12 hours later; all that time the victims stood knee-deep in icy water. According to Mash, everyone involved in the incident survived, suffered frostbite, and is now recovering at home.

A dangerous freeze-up period

The incident occurred against the backdrop of an ongoing dangerous freeze-up period in Chukotka: the Emergency Ministry warns that river ice has not yet gained sufficient strength for heavy vehicles, and official crossings are not open everywhere. Life.ru also recalls the recent tragedy in Khabarovsk Krai, where two children died after falling through the ice of an artificial pond in the village of Mirnoye along with their mother: the ice cover there was no more than one centimeter thick; the mother was rescued, but the children could not be saved.