River of Beer Gets Aussies Drunk Diving

S Y D N E Y, April 16 -- Residents of a small Australian town thought they had struck sunken treasure today after a truck crashed and dumped thousands of bottles of beer at the bottom of a river.

About 24,000 bottles of beer sank in the Tweed River, nearthe town of Tweed Heads, after a truck trailer lost a wheel andcrashed on a highway in New South Wales, Australian AssociatedPress (AAP) reported.

Police inspector Stan Single said local residents thought itwas open season had spent the Easter long weekend diving forthe beer — some fully clad in scuba gear.

Hundreds of Bottles Recovered

Several hundred people had been seen loading up their cars, with one man reported to have recovered 400 bottles alone.

"They obviously thought the owners had abandoned the loadand they better get the rest," Single said of the treasurehunters, noting that removal of the beer officially amounted totheft.