A 'An-12' airplane taking off after refuelling at an airport in Siberia lost almost 172 bars of gold/silver dore that fell to the ground after breaking through the loading bay fuselage.
The bars, which originally came from Kinross' Kupol mine in Chukotka, northeastern Russia, weighted 20 kilos each and ended up scattered on the runway and the fields that surround the airport.
According to local media and a Telegram message from Russia's Investigative Committee, the plane's total cargo weighted about 9.3 tonnes so about a third of it was dropped. Following the incident, the aircraft had to land back at the airport and police had to secure the area to prevent people from rushing to the scene.
An AFP report states that all of the flying bars were recovered.