The Ship Graveyard of Moynaq
Rusting fishing boats sit on sand far from any water, in a town that was once a port on one of the world's largest lakes.
What was reported
Moynaq was a busy fishing port on the Aral Sea, once the fourth-largest lake in the world. From the 1960s, the Soviet Union diverted the rivers that fed it to irrigate cotton, and the sea began to shrink.
Today the shore lies far from the town, and old fishing boats sit stranded in the desert where the water used to be.
Explanations offered
The shrinking of the Aral Sea is one of the 20th century's worst environmental disasters, leaving salty, dusty land and health problems behind. A dam built in 2005 has helped the northern part, in Kazakhstan, recover, but the southern part near Moynaq remains largely dry.
- When
- The sea retreated from the 1960s
- Where
- Moynaq, Karakalpakstan, Uzbekistan
- Witnesses
- Former fishermen and residents
- Status
- Explained
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.