Five Nearly Froze in Stuck Car on Volga Ice

On the night of January 23, in the Dubovsky district of Volgograd region, five young people were trapped on the ice of the Volga River after their car stalled in snowdrifts.

A call to the search and rescue unit came around midnight. The caller reported that a group was freezing in a domestic car.

The State Institution «Rescue Service» said: «Five young guys, around 20 years old, were driving a VAZ car – a »dvenashka« (a model 2102 sedan). At that age, they can have fun at night. They got stuck, and very badly, and couldn»t get out on their own. They started calling emergency services. The temperatures are extremely cold right now. They could have frozen to death, naturally.«

The head of the Dubovsky unit, Sergei Novikov, explained that the young people descended to the bank of the Volga in the area of the «Vodyanaya» ravine but couldn«t climb back due to steep cliffs.

He added: «The guys say they went down to the bank, and since it»s winter now, and all the slopes are covered with snow, they couldn«t go back up – the slopes are steep, with cliffs up to 20 meters. They decided to drive along the shore on the ice to Dubovka and, I suppose, exit near the beach. But there, due to a heavy blizzard, snowdrifts had formed. They drove into one of the drifts and got stuck. Something happened to the engine, and the motor stalled. They started freezing. Moreover, everything was covered by the blizzard, and visibility was very poor.»

For the rescue, the employees used a hovercraft called «Caiman», capable of moving on ice and snow. They found the victims, evacuated them, and delivered them to Dubovka. The car had to be left in place.

Sergei Novikov commented: «I said: »Guys, let«s do this. We have one task – to evacuate you so that you are alive and healthy. Tomorrow you»ll gather many people, come and push it out.« We delivered them directly to Dubovka. They, after warming up, on their own, happy but without the car, went home.»