A Russian city named the world’s most depressing place has human bones scattered in the street and sees temperatures drop as low as -50C in the winter.
Norilsk – a closed city in north Siberia – sits within the Arctic Circle, meaning temperatures only reach 9C in the summer.
There are also periods during the winter when the sun never rises, leaving people in complete darkness for over a month.
It is one of the most remote urban centres in Russia, located 1,800 miles away from the capital Moscow.
The city was built in the 1930s after nickel, copper, and cobalt were found there.
Soviet prisoners were put to work there, even when temperatures dropped, causing thousands of them to die in the process.
TikTok user @cmardukh visited the town and highlighted the “human bones everywhere in the soil” that belong to the men who died there.
Now, Norilsk is where a fifth of the world’s nickel is sourced at the city’s nickel plant.
The pollution from the plant has left its mark, however. A spillage in 2016 left the river water bright red after a filtration dam at overflowed.
A former worker at the plant, Evgeny Belikov, told ABC: “In the winter, the snow is also red. On the one hand, it’s beautiful, but on the other it’s chemical.”
Pollution has also led to much of the nearby forest being killed.
According to reports, polar bears have been seen walking the streets of Norilsk in the past.
Despite its reputation, 170,000 people still live in Norilsk.
Estonian journalist Jaanus Piirsalu visited the city in 2018, praising the “warm-hearted people” that live there.
The nickel plant offers job opportunities with decent pay compared to other jobs in Russia.
However, the plant has also led to poor health outcomes. The life expectancy for people in Norilsk is 59, 10 years less than the Russian average of 69.
This is believed to be due to the fact that the risk of cancer is doubled here due to the pollution from the plant.
