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Russian Time Capsule Washes Up Thousands Of Miles Away, Found By Surfers

(Photo by PAUL FAITH/AFP via Getty Images)

Briana McCoy Contributor
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Sophie Curran, a Donegal surfer found a Russian time capsule while looking for a surfing location, the Irish Times reported Thursday. 

She was walking with her friend Conor McClory and contacted her brother, who has a Russian friend, out of fear that it may have been a bomb or container for someone’s ashes, according to The Irish Times.

The friend of Curran’s brother translated the word on the tube, clarifying that it was actually a time capsule. Curran said on RTÉ radio that they found the time capsule had not been in the sea for too long.

“It was actually placed on ice at the North Pole at the 90 degrees point, so that means that the ice has melted and it travelled 4,000 km down to us in Donegal in just over two years, which is scary,” Curran said, The Irish Times reported. (RELATED: 42-Square-Mile Ice Chunk Breaks Off From Greenland Ice Cap)

The two friends contacted a Russian Instagram blogger, Svetla, who was on the boat that released the time capsule two years prior. “She told me that they thought it would be 30 or 50 years before this would be found so the fact that it was found within two years is really scary – that the ice is melting so quickly,” Curran stated.

The people on the ship were both researchers and paying passengers. “The time capsule was filled with letters from people who were on the boat and there was photographs of them, menus, itineraries, everything from the ship. It was very interesting”, said Curran.

Curran also mentioned that she forgot to go surfing that day, stating “I got a bit distracted by the time capsule.”