Treasure hunt on Russian coast after waves of valuable amber pieces wash ashore

A modern day ‘gold rush’ is taking place on a small stretch of Russian coast - after a storm washed swathes of amber pieces onto a beach.

The amber - fossilised tree resin valued hugely for its colour and beauty - is treated as a gemstone and used in jewellery, as well as in perfumes and medicine.

It’s found all over the world, but 90 per cent of the world’s amber is located along the Samland coast in Russia’s Kaliningrad Oblast region, between Poland and Lithuania.

Now chunks of the valuable gemstones are washing ashore after being torn from the sea floor and cast up by storm waves.

The latest storm creating a huge crop of amber for locals who turned up from the nearby town of Pionersky with nets and diving suits to line their pockets.

Most of the treasure hunters were not put off by the freezing cold conditions, some even putting on wetsuits and using huge nets to sweep the shoreline as waves washed over them.

Others stayed onshore picking through blackened seaweed and rock pools.

Local Olga Bazhenova, 42, interviewed on Russian TV said: 'Town residents and tourists were picking up small and medium-sized pieces of amber from seaweed and sand from dawn till dusk. It was a free for all, some people make themselves a lot of money to start the New Year.'

She added: 'Even pensioners forgot their ailments and age and scratched the frozen soil with sticks like babies in a sandpit.'

The timing could not have been better, as the 'free gift from nature' will help people out during the country's current economic crisis, but also raise spirits in the region.

The amber is a major source of income for the region with the local Kaliningrad Amber Factory extracting 250 tonnes (550,000 pounds) of it in 2014.