An 18-year-old Russian man has died after passing through the ‘Road of Bones’, which was built in the Stalin era by political prisoners.
Sergey Ustinov was travelling by car with a friend, Vladislav Istomin, when they took an alternative route that Google Maps had proposed.
The route was out of date, and the situation worsened when the car broke down in an area where temperatures do not rise above -40 degrees Celsius at this time of year.
The coldest inhabited area in the world
The authorities found the vehicle on an abandoned road about 100 kilometres from the village of Tomtor in Oymyakon, the coldest permanently inhabited district in the world.
Inside, Sergey Ustinov already dead, while his friend Vladislav Istomin was in a serious condition with frozen legs and arms.
The two occupants were not wearing warm clothes suitable for the very low temperatures (around -50 degrees Celsius).
The Russian authorities say it is rare in these cold regions of the country to make trips with less than two vehicles because of the risk of death from hypothermia if one of them breaks down.
