Day 43: Team XPD Beyond Asia drives longest distance of 1112 km in a day; Narrowly misses a fatal accident

Team XPD Beyond Asia's drive from Irkutsk to Krasnoyarsk, covering a distance of 1112 km was their longest drive thus far on the Trans-Siberian trip.

The team left the hotel at 5.30 am and it was indeed a chill morning. The team found it an ordeal to load their luggage back on to the cars since the hotel did not have elevators, which was the case in most of Russia's 3 or 4 star hotels. 

Meenakshi, the team Captain remembered that when she had prepared the itinerary for the trip, she could not find a city or town on this stretch to break the journey to stay overnight and hence the team had to cover a distance of 1112 km in one day.

The team took turns to drive and had their packed breakfast in the car, while taking a quick one-hour lunch break, filling their fuel tanks twice and with a whole lot of bio breaks.

"Driving in Russia is rash and dangerous. We have been extremely cautious and also have a dashcam just to be safe. I was on the wheel this afternoon, and both Dhanno and Shero had stopped for a small roadblock. Suddenly, I saw an old UAZ jeep in the rear view mirror speeding at me from behind and losing control completely. I parked on the road and froze. The jeep hurtled past me on my right side at high speed, slammed into a road barrier and toppled two times over before falling off the road and disappearing from our sight," recalls a shaken Meenakshi. 

"All of jumped out of our cars and along with the people working at the roadblock rushed to see where the jeep was and found it in a ravine. Everything had happened in a trice, like watching an action sequence in a James Bond movie," added Meenakshi. "Some of us rushed to the jeep and tried to open the door. There was no movement initially, but then we saw a person in the car move. He struggled to open the door and managed to get out. He was bleeding profusely from his head but seemed ok," narrates Meenakshi. Since the team had a first aid kit in the car, they offered the man a bandage to wrap his head.

Meenakshi and the team are still shaken at the thought of what could have happened if the jeep had hit either Dhanno or Shero. Meenakshi says that it still sends shivers down her spine just thinking about what could have happened. The team reached their pit stop for the day at 9.15 pm. The team felt that it had truly be an extremely long day due to the longest distance covered onthe trip, coupled with the bizaarre experience of having had a narrow escape on the roads. Team XPD Beyond Asia will leave tomorrow to Kemerovo, after a quick look around at Krasnoyarsk.