WARSAW, Poland -- Polish authorities blocked off a wooded area near a railroad track after scores of treasure hunters swarmed southwest Poland to look for a purported Nazi gold train.
The city of Walbrzych and its surrounding hills are experiencing a gold rush after two men, a Pole and a German, informed authorities through their lawyers that they had found a Nazi train with armaments and valuables that reportedly went missing in 1945 while fleeing the Red Army.
Inspired by a local legend, people with metal detectors and ground-penetrating equipment have been combing the area and its still-used railway tracks. Some of them have arrived from Germany.
The attention on the area intensified after Deputy Culture Minister Piotr Zuchowski said last week that he had seen contours of the train on an image from a ground-penetrating device.
Provincial Gov. Tomasz Smolarz said Monday that police, city and railway guards were patrolling the area and blocking treasure hunters to prevent any accidents with trains running on the tracks.
"A few hectares of land are now being secured. People have been barred from the woods" surrounding the site, he said.
"Half of Walbrzych's residents and other people are going treasure hunting or just for walks to see the site. We are worried for their security," police spokesman Magdalena Koroscik said. People walking down the tracks can't escape "a train that emerges from behind the rocks at [43 mph]."
A man taking a selfie on the tracks narrowly missed being hit, she said.
Smolarz is also asking the military to examine the site with earth-penetrating equipment to look for a hidden train.
Authorities said previous reports of a find have only yielded rusty pieces of metal.
A Section on 09/01/2015