--- title: Airplane Spills Three Tons of Gold All Over A Russian Runway description: A plane accidentally dumped diamonds, gold, and platinum were all dumped on a Siberian runway. canonical: https://time.com/5201154/airplane-accidentally-spills-gold-all-over-the-runway/ author: Melissa Locker article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-03-15T16:45:54.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:51:25.446Z og:title: Airplane Spills Three Tons of Gold All Over a Russian Runway og:description: Oops! og:url: https://time.com/5201154/airplane-accidentally-spills-gold-all-over-the-runway/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Airplane Spills Three Tons of Gold All Over a Russian Runway twitter:description: Oops! twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Airplane Accidentally Spills Gold All Over the Runway by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Mar 15, 2018 4:45 PM UTC by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Mar 15, 2018 4:45 PM UTC The world has seen [beer spills](http://time.com/5189724/busch-truck-spills-beer-florida/?iid=sr-link2), [pizza dough spills](http://time.com/4094684/truck-spills-pizza-dough-arizona-highway/), [syrup-coated](http://time.com/4663224/vermont-syrup-spill/) highways, entire [sandwiches](http://time.com/4373495/trucks-deli-meat-bread-collide/), [ham-related traffic jams](http://newsfeed.time.com/2013/12/19/hog-jam-truck-overturns-spilling-christmas-hams-onto-interstate/), and even a truck [full of eels](http://time.com/4857797/truck-eels-oregon-highway-101/) accidentally dumped on to an Oregon highway, but a recent runway accident may have caused the most expensive spill yet. A plane was taking off in the Siberian city of Yakutia, accidentally dropped gold, gems, and other precious metals all over the runway, including at least three tons of gold. The Nimbus Airlines plane took off for Krasnoyarsk carrying 9.3 tons of gold and other precious metals, according to a statement from the state Investigative Committee, [reported by _CNBC_](https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/15/gold-spills-on-russian-runway-after-plane-door-glitch.html). Something went wrong with the cargo door, causing the plane to dump its cargo all over the runway and the surrounding area. Per _CNBC,_ authorities shut down the runway and have recovered 172 gold bars so far, but since the gold was spread over some 10 square miles, treasure hunters will undoubtedly be out in force looking for lost cargo for some time. Or this is simply the plot of the next installment in [the _Ocean’s_ franchise.](http://time.com/5065792/oceans-8-poster/?iid=sr-link5) > [](https://twitter.com/siberian%5Ftimes/status/974219599397859330) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5201154/airplane-accidentally-spills-gold-all-over-the-runway/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5201154/airplane-accidentally-spills-gold-all-over-the-runway/"},"headline":"Airplane Accidentally Spills Gold All Over the Runway","datePublished":"2018-03-15T16:45:54.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:51:25.446Z","description":"Oops!","url":"https://time.com/5201154/airplane-accidentally-spills-gold-all-over-the-runway/","keywords":["Newsfeed","russia","Bizarre","Air travel"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Locker","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5201154/airplane-accidentally-spills-gold-all-over-the-runway/","name":"Airplane Accidentally Spills Gold All Over the Runway"}}]}] ```