The place called Mo'ynaq in Uzbekistan was once a thriving city, but now is little more than a ghost town. What’s really strange about Mo'ynaq is the fleet of abandoned and rusting boats. What are these boats doing sitting in the desert? The nearest shoreline is 150 kilometers away!
The secret is that Mo'ynaq used to be a port city on the Aral Sea. The water, diverted for irrigation by the Soviets, has receded to around 10% of its original size. As the fishing industry collapsed, residents of Mo'ynaq moved out, taking what was useful but leaving the scrapped fishing boats behind. The vanishing shoreline caused a host of problems for the people of Mo'ynaq. Read about what happened and see lots of pictures of the abandoned fleet at Kuriositas. -via the Presurfer
(Image credit: Flickr user neil banas)