Motor convoy with TV journalists heading to Vladikavkaz.

VLADIKAVKAZ, January 6 (Itar-Tass) - The journalists of Russian
television channels have been able to get out of avalanche captivity on
the Transcaucasian motor road (Transkam, for short).

After a powerful
avalanche descended on Tuesday, road maintainers have managed to cut the
so called pioneering trail in the snow mass to enable a motor convoy to
leave the area, heading to Vladikavkaz, an official in the North Ossetia
Ministry for Emergencies has told Itar-Tass.
Yulia Starchenko, the Ministry's press secretary, told Itar-Tass,
"After hours-long efforts, the road maintenance workers managed to hew a
narrow passage in the mass of snow for journalists to be able to leave for
Vladikavkaz. We have been staying at the location of the mountain unit of
the search-and-rescue party in the village of Nar, where we had all
necessary conditions for accommodation".
Since Tuesday morning the reporters of the RTR, NTV, Mir (peace),
Zvezda (star), Channel Five, and Russia today television channels had been
on the Transkam, filming material about Monday's avalanches and the work
of the avalanche control service that fired at snow pockets on the
mountain slopes.
The most powerful avalanche came down at midday in another place, 15
km from the populated area of Buron. The avalanche covered the motor road
with snow seven metres thick. The overall volume of the avalanche was
200,000 cubic metres of snow. About 20,000 cu.m of snow covered the road
while another part of the avalanche hit the Ardon river-bed. Luckily,
there were no people in the sector at the time.
At dawn on Wednesday the road maintenance workers will begin to clear
Transkam after a heavy snowfall that continued for over 24 hours. This
done, the road will reopen to traffic.

.Passengers of Yantar train await bomb-search results.

ORSHA, January 6 (Itar-Tass) - The passengers of the Moscow-bound
deluxe Train 30 Yantar (amber) from Kaliningrad are awaiting the results
of the inspection of the train in search for an explosive device. As soon
as the inspection is completed, they will be able to proceed on their way
to Moscow, an official at the Belarussian railway station Orsha has told
Itar-Tass. The train was brought to a stop at 02:20 Moscow time after an
unidentified phone caller told police about the threat of an explosion.
The railway station official said, "All the passengers together with
their belongings were evacuated from the coaches and accommodated in the
railway terminal building where they were served hot tea". The official
pointed out that there were about 500 people in the train. Those who were
traveling with children were temporarily placed in the Mother and Child
lounge.
The deluxe train 30/29 Yantar began to ply between Kaliningrad and
Moscow in 1964 and since then it has never changed its special style
typifying the sea, the Baltic coast, and amber, becoming the Kaliningrad
region's symbol and showcase outside its boundaries.
The Yantar coaches are provided with electric heating, air
conditioning, biotoilets, modern safety and electronic information
systems. In recent years, coaches of business and economic class with a
heightened degree of comfort have been added to the train.
The unique peculiarity of the deluxe train 30/29 is visa support to
passengers during travel from Kaliningrad Region in transit across
Lithuania and back. The Yantar has become the first and only deluxe train
on the network of Russian railways that enables passengers to travel
across Lithuania on the strength of a simplified travel document.
The train plies along the line every day. Travel time between
Kaliningrad and Moscow is slightly more than 21 hours. En route, the train
stops at 12 stations, including Vilnius, Molodechno, Minsk, Orsha,
Smolensk, and Vyazma.

.Fire in a shed localized in Moscow's south.

MOSCOW, January 6 (Itar-Tass) - A heavy fire broke out in a shed in
Moscow's south. The area engulfed by the fire was over 1,000 square
metres, an official in the press service of the city department of the
Russian Ministry for Emergencies has told Itar-Tass.
The official said, "A Klyuchevaya Street-based shed with an area of
1,200 square metres caught fire on the night from Tuesday to Wednesday.
The fire has been localized".
Efforts are being made to find out what is kept in the shed.
Firefighting teams continue to operate at the scene of the incident.
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