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Turkmenistan President drifts around a fiery crater to prove he’s alive

While you’ve been busy at work on this regular Friday afternoon, the President of Turkmenistan has been seen doing doughnuts around “The Gates of Hell“.

This was all due to the rumours that the 62-year-old president had died almost a month prior, but instead of holding a press conference, President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov went for a death-defying drive.

President of Turkmenistan drivers around "Gates of Hell"
Image: WATAN HABARLARY

Turkmenistan media aired a video of their President, who hadn’t been seen on TV since July 15, driving around a flaming crater in the middle of the Karakum desert.

The rumour of his death was spread by a small foreign-based media outlet that opposes the current Turkmen regime.

The President is known for doing crazy stunts for state media so he portrayed a half-hour segment featuring his adventure to the “Gates of Hell”, along with him riding a stallion and hitting the gym for his spectacular comeback.

The doughnuts certainly look like they’ve come straight from a sci-fi film. But the Darvaza gas crater is certainly real, having emerged in 1971 when a Soviet drilling rig hit into the earth and left a pocket of poisonous gases burning. Naturally, it is the latest playground for a President who can seemingly live however he likes.

Previous publicity stunts by the President include a rap video with his grandson and his gifting of a puppy to Vladimir Putin.

Check out the video below: