DATELINE: 6th June 2001

AUSSIE LAGER FRENZY
Well, they've got to live up to their TV lager ad reputations, after all. When a lorry carrying 24,000 bottles of beer lost a wheel and disappeared into a river in New South Wales over Easter, local Aussies leapt like kangaroos to get in on the action.
With the trucking company told it couldn't use heavy gear to recover the beer due to heavy holiday traffic, it was "open slather through Friday and Saturday", said a local police inspector, as several hundred thirsty folk descended on the site with boats and scuba gear - some bought specially - to gather up a hefty portion of the lorry's liquid treasure. One diver is said to have recovered 400 cold ones. Police eventually stopped the stampede to allow the trucking company to recover the rest of its haul.

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