The Russian Navy hit on a novel way of securing a spot on a crowded beach when they drove a massive hovercraft onto the shore while shocked sunbathers and swimmers could only look on in amazement. The huge vessel powered past swimmers sending clouds of spray shooting up into the air as high as the 60m-long vessel itself. It continued up the beach ignoring the hundreds of people who moments before had been happily enjoying the summer sunshine, before coming to a halt 50 feet inland. Marines then jumped out and roped off the 550-tonne Zubr hovercraft – nicknamed the Bison – from the public. The fighting machine is capable of holding 400 troops and is kitted out with state-of-the-art equipment, including missile launchers and automatic gun mounts. It can reach speeds approaching 70mph. According to local paper Komosomolskaya Pravda, the hovercraft was on a tactical mission. An unapologetic Russian military said the beach was in the middle of a firing range and should have been empty. A minister said: ‘Docking at the beach is a normal event. What people were doing at the beach on the territory of a military base is unclear.’ However, the newspaper said the base the ministry was referring to was several miles away in Khmelevka. Nobody was hurt during the incident.
