Floating restaurant torn from mooring by thawing ice on Neris in Vilnius

At about noon on Tuesday, rescuers in Vilnius were alerted that the stream of ice flowing down the Neris as the river thaws had torn a barge near the center of the city off of its moorings. The barge, which holds a restaurant named “Barža”, had two people on board.

According to Laura Valauskienė, a representative of the government's Fire and Rescue Department, the two people managed to jump to shore before emergency services had arrived. However, the city's emergency responders will still need to stop the runaway restaurant, along with two additional shacks that were also torn from their moorings.

As of 1:15 PM, several fighters that had jumped on board, along with divers, have managed to secure the floating restaurant barge to a tree. One of the smaller shacks was also halted, but the second is still floating down the Neris along with large pieces of ice. The restaurant barge has sustained some damage.