A 200 foot-long Russian hovercraft charged a beach with hundreds of people along the Baltic Sea near Russia's Kaliningrad according to Sky News.
According to Sky News, the military ship came into what was thought to be a military base while doing tactical maneuvers for military training. People looking on were asked to move away by storming paratroopers who surrounded the area Russian newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda as reported by Sky News.
"What people were doing at the beach on the territory of a military (base) is unclear," Russian defense ministry spokeswoman Audrey Bespaly, told Sky News. The spokesman also said the incident was a "normal event."
"Docking at the beach is a regular practice, what we don't know is what people were doing at the beach, which is within the military firing range."
The base was several miles away from the beach Sky News reported.
According to Sky News, the hovercraft is believed to be one of Russia's three Zubr-class landing vessels. The Zubr, which means "bison" in Russian, has the potential to carry up to 130 tons of cargo. It can also carry a maximum of 500 troops. The craft also has missile launchers, automatic gun mounts and equipment to lay mines examiner.com reported.
The hovercraft was made in St. Petersburg Russia, and is used by navy forces in Ukraine, China, and Greece Sky News reported. It can only fly a few feet above the water's surface.
According to examiner.com, the craft created huge waves and projected a "terrible roar" as it approached land. Paratroopers also stepped off of the ship to vacate the area.
The 500-ton hovercraft measuring about 60 meters or 196 feet in length has the ability to reach speeds of up to 60 knots at 110 kilometers or 68 miles per hour examiner.com reported.
