MOSCOW — Yakutsk, a city 5,000 miles from Moscow where temperatures can plummet to minus 85 degrees Fahrenheit, is not the sort of place where people normally spend winter nights searching the bushes by torch light. But it is not every day that 3.4 tons of gold falls out of the sky.

The unusual scene unfolded this week after a door on a Soviet-era cargo plane sprang open on takeoff, spewing dozens of what seemed to be gold bars into the frosty air. (They turned out to be doré, a semi-pure alloy composed of gold and silver, not pure gold, but close enough.)

The Antonov AN-12’s lower hatch was forced open when more than nine tons of precious metal, worth a reported $156 million, broke loose on takeoff, Russia’s Investigative Committee said in a statement.

News reports of gold from the sky spread like wildfire, prompting an outpouring on social media. One widely shared image showed a screenshot from a ride-sharing app: “Yakutsk airport,” read the request. “Need a Toyota Probox-style estate car. Three 200 kilograms sacks. URGENT!!! Payment: a half-kilo of gold.”