Russian fishermen are demanding a probe into a creature resembling the Loch Ness monster in a remote Siberian lake.
Locals say that ‘Nesski’ has devoured anglers who have been pulled into the murky waters of Lake Chany from their boats.
Those claiming to have glimpsed the creature say it resembles the classic long-necked image of Scotland’s fabled monster. It has also been called ‘snake-like’, while other accounts suggest a large fin and huge tail.
The latest mysterious death of a 59-year-old man last week has fuelled demands for a proper probe into what lurks beneath the surface of Chany, one of Russia’s largest freshwater lakes.
‘I was with my friend… some 300 yards from the shore,’ said 60-year-old Vladimir Golishev. ”He hooked something huge on his bait, and he stood up in the boat to reel it in.
‘But it pulled with such force that he overturned the boat. I was in shock – I had never seen anything like it in my life.
‘I pulled off my clothes and swam for the shore, not daring hope I would make it.’
He said his friend was pulled under the surface, a description in common with earlier incidents.
‘He didn’t make it – and they have found no remains.’
Three years ago 32-year-old Mikhail Doronin – a special services soldier – was lost.
‘The lake was calm, but suddenly the boat was rocking, and it capsized,’ said his 80-year-old grandmother Nina, who has lived beside the lake all her life.
‘Something of an awesome scale lives in the lake, but I have never seen it,’ said her husband, Vladimir, 81.
Official figures say 19 people have drowned in the lake in the past three years and in most cases their remains were never found. Locals say the true figures are higher.
Some bodies that have been washed up had been eaten by a creature with large teeth, they claim.
‘It is time to find out the truth,’ said Golishev.
Unlike deep Loch Ness, Lake Chany is no than 23 feet in depth. Frozen in winter, it is warm and popular with swimmers in summer. It is known to contain large carp.
The lake is 57 miles in length by 55 miles in width. A relic of the Ice Age, accounts of monsters in its waters were first made public in Soviet times.
Full source: Daily Mail UK