- 1 year ago
The world's coldest Road
If you want true adventure, you've come to the right place. We are going to take you to the coldest road in the world. Where? You guessed it - Siberia.
Trip Antarctica
We visited the largest German research station in Antarctica: Neumayer Station III. Among other things, data is being collected for a possible flight to Mars.
Researchers are planting vegetables in Antarctica. They hope to gain insight into how cultivation on other planets, such as Mars, can work. The team travels directly to Antarctica to learn everything about cultivation on other planets.
Australia's Ghost Town: The contaminated city Wittenoom
Our reporter Raphael travels to Wittenoom and explores this Australian ghost town. Asbestos contamination made it uninhabitable, forever losing its place on the maps of our world.
If you want true adventure, you've come to the right place. We are going to take you to the coldest road in the world. Where? You guessed it - Siberia.
Trip Antarctica
We visited the largest German research station in Antarctica: Neumayer Station III. Among other things, data is being collected for a possible flight to Mars.
Researchers are planting vegetables in Antarctica. They hope to gain insight into how cultivation on other planets, such as Mars, can work. The team travels directly to Antarctica to learn everything about cultivation on other planets.
Australia's Ghost Town: The contaminated city Wittenoom
Our reporter Raphael travels to Wittenoom and explores this Australian ghost town. Asbestos contamination made it uninhabitable, forever losing its place on the maps of our world.
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TVTranscript
00:00A road like an ice rink. It is the iciest and slippiest route in Russia.
00:081,200 miles long, also known as Death Road.
00:13This place is really dangerous.
00:17Our reporter Nico wants to accompany a truck driver on the world's coldest road.
00:22Destination? A completely isolated village out in the wild,
00:26where the inhabitants urgently need fresh food supplies.
00:32We are going to Siberia, to Yakutsk, known as the coldest city on Earth.
00:38The tour is scheduled to start from here tonight, so Nico has to make sure he's warm enough.
00:45Well, for starters, it's freezing cold, minus 40 today.
00:49And above all, the streets here in the city centre don't look very inviting either.
00:53And the further east we go, the colder it gets.
00:59Continuing eastwards. The world's coldest road is the only supply route for an area nine times the size of Germany.
01:06Our destination is the village of Eumekon.
01:09And he is willing to take our reporter along, truck driver Misha.
01:15He invited Nico to his house because Misha always spends the evening before a long hard tour with his wife and his two sons.
01:23The smaller one is just five months old.
01:27Are you afraid when your husband's away?
01:33Of course. Even though I've never been there, I know his stories and I've seen the photos on the news.
01:41And what do you tell your wife?
01:47I tell her not to be afraid of the road. I always think positively.
01:52Time to leave.
01:57Let's go.
02:03Misha wants to start at night so that he can reach the first dangerous sections of the route by daylight.
02:17The fruit for the 460 villagers still has to be loaded.
02:21Fruit, vegetables, pasta, butter, flour, sugar.
02:28Will we be on the road for long?
02:31I hope to arrive in a day and a half.
02:34How often do you drive?
02:37About three times a month, if the road is passable.
02:41In winter it's cold and in summer the road is often washed away.
02:47The truck has definitely seen better days.
02:50Aren't you afraid?
02:56Somebody's got to do it.
02:59Here we go.
03:11Our first destination is the river Aldan, which will be a particular challenge tomorrow.
03:16The five-ton truck has to cross the frozen ice sheet to get to the other side.
03:21But for now we're still driving on tarmac.
03:24The main thing is to keep the engine running.
03:26Sometimes it's extremely cold.
03:31And if you then stop and sleep, the truck freezes immediately and then you can't go on.
03:38Are there many accidents here?
03:43Yes, it's dangerous and slippy at this time of year.
03:49You can hardly get up the mountains.
03:58It soon becomes obvious that the reports about the world's coldest road are not exaggerated.
04:04What happened there?
04:07A truck.
04:08Well, you can see here it's as dangerous as hell.
04:13And this won't be the only track that didn't make it.
04:27Seven hours later, just outside today's destination, we take a short nap before we hit the eyes with our five-ton vehicle tomorrow morning.
04:35Wake up!
04:43Good morning.
04:44Did you get any sleep?
04:46Yeah.
04:47It's 32 degrees in here and almost minus 50 outside.
04:52That's a difference of 80 degrees.
04:55The engine has to run continuously.
04:58Otherwise it would freeze immediately.
05:00That's why it's so hot in the cabin.
05:07Where are we?
05:09This is the Aldan.
05:11The Aldan is a great Siberian river.
05:14Part of the route now crosses it.
05:16The authorities opened the crossing to cars only a few days ago.
05:20Before that, the layer of ice was too thin and the risk too high.
05:25What's the maximum weight limit at the moment?
05:29So, this time of year, the maximum weight limit is five tons.
05:37The ice is not thick enough for bigger trucks yet.
05:42The truck can move across this slippery ice surface at a maximum speed of 20 miles per hour.
05:48If the ice were to crack, there would be hardly any time to get out of the vehicle.
05:53And the river is extremely deep in the middle.
05:57Cars do sometimes go through the ice here.
06:03When that happens, it's on the internet and the news.
06:08And it always makes my family nervous.
06:12It is the world's coldest road, and on this section, it is nothing but ice.
06:22After another hour, we reach the other site.
06:25And the next special place, a site for offerings to the gods.
06:29Misha, of course, has a little gift for them.
06:35Sugar?
06:36Sugar?
06:37Why sugar?
06:38Sugar?
06:39Why sugar?
06:40Sugar is delicious.
06:41Everyone likes it.
06:42The symbolic offering is to bring good luck for a safe journey.
06:51The beauty of the countryside can make you forget the sacrifices it took to build this road.
06:56It began about 90 years ago.
06:59Prisoners toiling in the ice desert under inhuman conditions.
07:03The construction lasted over 30 years.
07:06Hundreds of thousands died.
07:08Even today, the so-called Tolema route is the only highway in an area as large as Europe.
07:16And this is the last chance to fill up with fuel.
07:21How many liters does it take?
07:23250.
07:24250?
07:25And you're filling up?
07:28Sure, completely full.
07:30It's going to have to last for the rest of the trip.
07:33After a total of 1,600 miles on the Kolema route, we reached the Chorny-Prujean Gorge.
07:45Until now, the world's coldest road was just icy.
07:48Now it's icy and steep.
07:50Is this the riskiest part of the trip?
07:54Yeah, cars fall down there all the time.
07:58You have to be really careful.
08:00On this section of the road, dozens of drivers die every year.
08:06Boulders can crash down from above.
08:09And sometime the drop is around 300 feet.
08:17There is, of course, no winter service here at the edge of the world.
08:21So the pace is slow and steady.
08:23What happened there?
08:25A truck came off the road here the other day.
08:29The driver was killed instantly.
08:34He was thrown from the cabin.
08:38Misha's tired, but we continue through the night.
08:42The village is waiting for the delivery.
08:44The goods must arrive on time tomorrow.
08:46Misha only allows himself one break.
08:51After 24 hours at the wheel.
08:53In Café Cuba, everyone knows each other.
08:56Almost every truck driver stops here.
08:58What do you talk about?
09:02What do you talk about?
09:03We talk about fatal accidents, but most of the time we exchange information, if there's
09:09anything blocking the road somewhere.
09:11Then, after almost 560 miles, we finally have our goal inside.
09:19At dawn, we reach the village of Oymyakon.
09:25It's minus 50 degrees.
09:27This is the coldest place on earth.
09:30Aren't you always really tired when you arrive?
09:33No, on the contrary.
09:36I'm always glad when things turn out well.
09:38It's a great comfort.
09:40After 40 hours of driving, we reach our destination.
09:44A small village shop.
09:46Misha is here, finally.
09:51Misha is a hero here.
09:56How important are these supplies for the village?
09:59Very, very important.
10:03The road was closed for two months.
10:05Then, all the shelves in the shop were empty.
10:07There's hardly anything around here.
10:09We're always eagerly waiting for the road to reopen.
10:13The first fruit for two months.
10:23Now, there's fine leaf fruit and butter in Oymyakon again.
10:28What do you think?
10:30How long are you going to keep doing this work?
10:33The longer, the better.
10:36After an overnight stay, we start our journey back.
10:41We've learned how dangerous, but also how vital it is for the survival of the villagers out here.
10:48The coldest road in the world.
10:50This is awesome.
11:00You can't see anything.
11:01No sky, no ground.
11:03For two weeks, we are allowed to accompany the researchers at the German research station in Antarctica, Neumeyer Station 3.
11:12They give us an insight into their everyday life and their work in the perpetual ice.
11:19A place like no other on the planet.
11:23It's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen.
11:29A very special adventure for our team too.
11:36Here we go at last.
11:38We've waited so long for this.
11:40We've put half a year of preparation into this film.
11:44We, that's cameraman Patrick, and editor Matthias.
11:53To travel to Antarctica at all is real adventure for us.
12:00Our journey begins in a doctor's surgery in Germany.
12:04Everyone who wants to go to the research station has to undergo an extensive check-up.
12:09And so do we.
12:10It's supposed to reduce the risk of someone becoming seriously ill while in Antarctica.
12:19The things they want to know about you.
12:22All this for two weeks.
12:24The diagnosis?
12:26We are fit and healthy.
12:30Now the clothes.
12:32The Alfred Wegener Institute, which also operates the Neumeyer Station, provides researchers and us with polar equipment.
12:39Now that's a sleeping bag.
12:44It's like a giant clothing store, just for expedition gear.
12:48How cool is that?
12:49How cool is that?
12:52We are.
12:53Each of us gets over 30 pieces of equipment for our time in the Antarctic.
13:01However, everything is only borrowed.
13:05is only borrowed and now we pack for the shoot in Antarctica we've taken more than
13:15we usually do spare cameras and lots of batteries at low temperatures they
13:21deplete very quickly everything has to be packed safely Antarctica isn't really
13:27the place where you can buy replacements now we're off to Antarctica the journey really
13:38starts in Cape Town South Africa from the airport there we're supposed to be heading
13:43straight to Antarctica for now it's still sandal weather how are you I'm excited
13:52it's the most extreme thing I've ever done only for a few months a year during the Antarctic summer
14:05our flights to the Antarctic possible at all whether wise the passengers are almost exclusively
14:11scientists but we're a bit surprised everything else is just so normal okay not everything the
14:21backs in the front of the plane contain the polar clothes from the clothing store so we better
14:26take them along good morning from the inside the plane looks like a normal holiday aircraft but
14:34after a few hours in the air the first people suddenly start to get changed in the aisle let's
14:45just join in then we look out the window and get our first view of the Antarctic overwhelming but
14:57where do you land the plane in Antarctica on the ice of course we're here have you looked out of the
15:07window it's incredible I've never been so excited have you looked out of the window yet here we are weird I
15:21still can't believe it but we're now in Antarctica although not yet at our destination we changed to
15:35this little polar plane to be able to land where we want to go it needs skits instead of wheels after
15:44a total of eight hours since leaving Cape Town we finally reach our destination Neumeier station 3
15:51about 40 people from different countries are there at the moment and now so are we
15:56in a small group we set off
16:00while it's winter in Germany it's summer here and actually it's not that cold at all not even minus 10
16:08degrees but there's a blizzard raging we want to experience it just this once and get ready for a walk
16:15in a small group we set off finding your way is only possible in this weather thanks to the black
16:30lifelines our plan is to get up the hot pictured on the ride our bedroom for the next two weeks
16:39this is how we'll sleep afterwards we go right back it is only a few hundred meters but the walk is a real
16:52adventure my gloves frozen how was it so cold a little windy Neumeier station 3 is the only
17:08German research station in Antarctica that is occupied all year round it is operated by the
17:14Alfred Wegener Institute in summer up to 50 people live here most researchers stay for several weeks
17:21but there's a group that stays all year round the group of over interest consists of nine people
17:29four scientists one doctor one cook one radio operator and two technicians they spend 14 months at the
17:37station even during the Antarctic winter when the station is completely cut up from the outside world
17:43neither ships nor planes can get in or out and during the polar night the Sun never rises for more than two months
17:50it's dark around the clock he is one of the overwinterers dr. bernhard crop is a doctor and head of the station
17:58he's responsible for a medical study that has nothing to do with Antarctica but with space travel yes
18:05come in all overwinterers take part in the study this includes station engineer Thomas Stappens yes we
18:16mainly look at the overwinterers adaptability to the isolation to the lack of stimuli and also to the
18:24stress reactions on these are all factors that cause a stress reaction the study provides important
18:35findings for space medicine the idea the overwinterers lives here resemble a space mission they are isolated they are
18:43always in the same environment how this affects the health of all the overwinterers is checked with
18:49the help of blood samples but the extraordinary circumstances here also have an effect on the
18:56psyche over the winter ie the dark polar night you can see most of the team members slowing down a bit
19:05that the need to sleep has increased and you have the feeling that you don't remember things as well
19:11this is a subjective perception of course but I think you do notice it besides the blood samples there
19:25are also psychological tests how much the overwinterers sleep and how much they move during the day are also
19:33tracked around the clock and there is a space simulator once a month Thomas damns has to try to capture a
19:42satellite with a robot arm an exercise that prospective astronauts have to do and which requires an extreme
19:49amount of skill and concentration now we've pushed him out into space not good no that's definitely not
20:00good but the robot has a lot of axes and you can move it in almost every direction this is exactly
20:09why the study participants do this exercise the question is does life here have an influence on
20:15spatial perception or fine motor skills the results of the study are still to come but maybe research here in
20:23Antarctica will be able to improve space travel a bit more in the future a storm has been raging at
20:31the research station for several days the underground car park remains closed for safety reasons so the
20:39researchers have to work inside including sea ice physicist Stephanie art this thing is an electromagnetic
20:47measuring device it measures the conductivity of the environment the scientists want to use it to
20:54determine the thickness of sea ice because metal falsifies the measurements they put the device into a
21:00plastic kayak but why is it even important to know how thick the ice on the sea is
21:07sea ice is of course a very important indicator when it comes to understanding climate interactions
21:17and changes in climate and even if we don't see the strong changes in Antarctica yet it is of course
21:23important to describe the actual state in order to see where this might lead and out to the new
21:28can that's the light in fear meaning if climate change were to arrive in Antarctica Stephanie art will be able
21:36to measure it now we wait what's stopping you from just driving off on the weather there's still
21:46quite a storm out there and that's why they are afraid that when they open the hatch everything will
21:51be covered in snow and that's why we have to be patient for now this thing was not just in good
21:55order but it is worth the wait once the weather is good the scientists can finally get out and we're
22:08right there with them and we'll find out what's hiding under this flap in the ice also a moment of
22:18shock our cameraman takes a fall during a snowstorm so stay tuned for the second part of our trip to
22:25Antarctica our team has now been in Antarctica for a week on the other side of the world at the German
22:42research station Neumeyer 3 we want to know what are they actually researching here
22:50a snowstorm has been raging since we got here but we won't let that stop us together with geophysicist
23:00Mirko Otschavonka our editor in his black checkered is heading towards the geomagnetic observatory now
23:07what could that be first problem getting there if the weather was good we could go straight there
23:15there's a wooden signpost but because the weather is not good we have to follow the black lifelines
23:26they show the way to all important research facilities the so-called observatories in the
23:32vicinity of the station this is one of them but this is not our final destination here we have
23:41to put belts on because we're going to climb downwards into the ice and how deep does it go about 10 meters
23:52ok then a hatch suddenly appears in the middle of the ice so this is the entrance into the magnetic
24:05field observatory I think the idea of climbing into the ice is so crazy we learn that the shaft gets
24:17deeper every year every year it grows about one meter in height the reason snowfall
24:23Matthias enjoys the descent this is so funny but the station's geophysicist has to come down here
24:39every other day which is quite commute yeah it's not easy at the bottom we discover the devices used
24:50to measure the magnetic field here they are particularly sensitive to cold and vibrations
24:55but deep inside the ice it's relatively warm throughout the year and there's no wind
25:00geophysicist Mirko Czavonka works here as a kind of watchdog for the earth's magnetic field he
25:09regularly measures the field strength and orientation one of those when you without the magnetic field the
25:16sun's rays would hit the earth and make life difficult so the magnetic field protects the earth
25:22from magnetic solar storms for example some streams because of eruptions on the Sun such solar storms
25:30occur again and again this is not a bad thing at first because the earth's magnetic field is like
25:35a protective shield but if the magnetic field changes or becomes weaker the protective shield no
25:42longer functions properly that's why it is so important to study the magnetic field without a
25:48protective shield solar storms could cause large-scale power outages or even cause our mobile phone network
25:55to collapse the scientists in this ice cave are making sure that we find out about this early
26:01enough back at the research station we get something to eat and it's not dry bread or astronaut food we are
26:10fascinated by what the station chef cooks up here three times a day so you can't sit in Antarctica fresh food
26:22is only available when planes land in summer but there's nothing else missing once a year an ice
26:27breaker delivers 60 tons of food and on the way back the ship also becomes a garbage disposal vessel the
26:38station engineer explains that the researchers ways doesn't just get disposed of somewhere in Antarctica
26:44all garbage that comes to Antarctica must also be taken back which means it's compressed as small as
26:55possible shredded and then stolen containers and every gram is written down so we can reconstruct what's in each
27:01container container container the next day it's still blowing a gale but we really want to get out
27:13Tim Heitland is going to accompany us he's a former overwinterer and now coordinates the station's operations
27:28what's this yeah this is this is the board on which we record who's currently in the facility
27:35because in case of a fire you can see who else is in the station who else is missing and who to look for
27:45and I just change my status here absolutely outside the storm is blowing at over 80 kilometers per hour due to a
28:01physical effect under this station built on stills the wind is even stronger not exactly perfect working
28:08conditions for cameraman Patrick but the storm isn't the scariest part if you walk away from the station
28:16it looks like there's just nothing out there this is weird you see no sky you see no ground you see
28:25nothing at all yeah we call these conditions white out practically no contrast no horizon on top of that
28:32there's the flying snow we're still in the middle of an interview when suddenly poor Patrick are you all
28:57right let's hope it's nothing serious so first of all camera off the next morning Patrick's foot hurts
29:06he can hardly walk fortunately there's a fully equipped hospital at the research station and a doctor the x-rays
29:14show that nothing is broken so all he can now do is wait I'm gonna take a day off and then I'll go out
29:25again tomorrow I also hope that the weather will be better by then yeah the next day the weather is
29:34wonderful we can finally go out and Patrick is actually back on his feet so now it's non-stop
29:41filming sea ice physicist Stephanie and is getting her kayak ready which has an ice thickness gorge inside
29:48it we're accompanying her to find out how climate research works but yes can I put this in here the
29:56camera equipment it's the first time our editor has been on a snowmobile and it's the first time we
30:06can see blue sky in Antarctica here we go at last we've waited so long for this I'm so excited
30:18what a sight an endless ice desert this is awesome check it out
30:31this is so incredibly beautiful Antarctica is almost twice as big as Australia and even if it
30:45doesn't look like it's not just ice Antarctica is a real continent land that is largely covered by an
30:53ice sheet it is almost five kilometers thick in places at the edge of this ice sheet the so-called
31:00shelf ice floats on the sea it is still several hundred meters thick after all the outermost edge
31:06of Antarctica consists of sea ice sea water that freezes in winter in summer however it melts and
31:14the sea ice surface shrinks by 80 percent as a result Antarctica shrinks as well until it grows again in
31:21winter this is where the sea ice begins all this will break up in a few months and drift away then
31:29there's only water here so Stephanie and has to work fast she wants to know how thick the sea ice is in
31:37certain places along a so-called transit she uses an electromagnetic measuring device to measure the
31:44thickness of the sea ice a reduction in sea ice could be a crucial indication of how far climate change is
31:52affecting our planet what we can read from the data and this is a very important point is the change
32:00what are we measuring today and what did we measure on the same transect eight years ago and what can we deduce from
32:06that what can we observe in terms of global climate change researchers can't yet find any indication of
32:13climate change here the hope is that thanks to Antarctica's remote and isolated location this could remain so for a while
32:21then we let the scientists continue their work in peace Tim Eidland has another surprise for us
32:26incredible ice formations on the edge of the shelf ice the transition between sea ice and shelf ice
32:33Wow that's really beautiful good isn't it I think so too
32:51as we drive away from the edge of the ice shelf again they are suddenly everywhere emperor penguins the
32:59colony here is home to almost 30,000 penguins what a sight
33:09what a noise what a dream to be here Tim this is so wonderfully beautiful here do you still see it like this too
33:20for me it hasn't lost any of its magic i still think it's one of the most beautiful things i've ever seen
33:31our time in antarctica has unfortunately come to an end for us it is back to neumeier station and then
33:38home what remains are the memories of scientists who are passionate about their research to help us
33:45understand how the magnetic field protects us from solar storms what climate change is doing to our
33:51planet and what happens to astronauts on space missions and last but not least this trip was a
33:58huge adventure that we will certainly never forget
34:1142 degrees in the shade but there is no shade here our reporter rafael lauer is in the australian
34:19outback his destination a ghost town in the middle of nowhere a highly contaminated place deserted and forgotten
34:31a lost place with a dark history that can still be deadly to visit us today
34:36vitanum in the 60s it was even the largest city in the midwest of australia with just under 1 000
34:52inhabitants an exemplary project then also a glimmer of hope for european immigrants many germans came here
35:01looking for happiness but what they found was death that's because vitanum is one of the most dangerous
35:08places in the world eighty percent of all people who have ever lived here are dead today
35:16wearing my safety suit i'm very well protected and yet it is a striking feeling to walk through a
35:22place that has cost so many people their lives the whole thing is very scary
35:31what was going on in this cafe couples in love the waitress running from table to table with coffee
35:40the overweight cook frying bacon i can imagine it vividly but it seems as if they've left everything
35:47behind hastily you don't really feel the danger it looks abandoned but you can't tell what is supposed to be dangerous here
36:07but the danger is everywhere and the city is so heavily contaminated that the government shut off
36:13all basic services in the early 2000s such as water electricity and the telephone
36:20vitamin has been deleted from the maps it ceased to exist the reason can be found on the street
36:28look here there it is
36:30this is the corpus delicti that's blue asbestos look at this and it's all over everywhere blue asbestos this
36:50fibrous mineral was supposed to make bitanum wealthy and rich but in reality it was their ruin and still
36:55does not allow life there today that's what i was told anyway do you hear that
37:05that sounds like an engine maybe a generator
37:13but that can't be possible no one can live in this godforsaken place or can they
37:19um
37:24perth on the australian west coast three days earlier our reporter found one of the few surviving
37:30inhabitants of bitanum raphael has a meeting with the president of the australian organization against
37:37asbestos related diseases robert boyakovich the native croat like many europeans came to australia
37:45in the 1950s searching for happiness good morning hi nice to meet you thank you very much for having
37:53me um you used to live in witten yeah i used to live with them and i worked there for about three
37:59months in asbestos mine what brings you to perth 2400 kilometers away well i skype actually from
38:07whitney you know because once you're there you know you got to be there for six months
38:11on the contract you know and i was very lucky that i was able to escape you know to put the
38:16problem was was everything more or less you know no accommodation properly no food you see job was
38:22very hard you see intolerable in a lot of dust as early as the 1930s asbestos was already being
38:29mined at wittenham the fibrous stone was a popular building material because it insulates well and is
38:35heat resistant it was referred to in germany as the miracle fiber from remote parts of europe workers
38:43came over to dig it out of tunnels and separated from the rock in the mill without masks or any other
38:49protection even though there were already suspicions of asbestos being dangerous at the time both in the
38:59mine and in the mill microscopic fibers are created and inhaled by the unprotected workers and residents
39:06even years later almost all of them suffer from a particularly aggressive type of lung cancer
39:12which turns terminal within nine months of diagnosis
39:18one night robert won a few hundred dollars playing poker which he used to convince a truck driver to
39:24smuggle him out of town and take him to perth today he owes his life to this decision why don't you
39:32come with us well it i possibly can't you see because if i go to whitnam i would actually show that
39:40whitnam is okay to go there our policies can't go there it's incontaminated it government closed it
39:46it's a closed area it's no goal area you see and we actually had at least two people who actually
39:51stayed there overnight camping anything on there all the visit to leoma just for one night of camping
40:01as the consequences of the asbestos dust were being made public robert was founding an organization
40:07that has been helping victims and survivors for over 40 years he was able to distribute around one
40:14billion euros in compensation he doesn't allow rafael to go to vietnam without adequate protection only
40:21the safest is safe enough in addition to the asbestos dust that rafael must not inhale a trip to the
40:27outback isn't without its dangers our reporter is expected to pack 50 liters of water 30 liters of gas
40:34and food for at least two extra days after so much it was clear to me even if his stories and
40:42precautions made me nervous i'm glad i met robert and didn't simply go there unprepared
40:58it takes 12 hours to drive through the outback hundreds of miles where i don't see a single car
41:05there is nothing here i wonder why anyone would ever get the idea of coming out here looking for happiness
41:15let alone digging for asbestos all that's waiting here is loneliness
41:21no sign vietnam not posted on any sign what's this here
41:34tom price
41:38but that's the 134 it must be right here somewhere in this direction
41:42in 2007 the australian government declared vietnam as highly contaminated and revoked its city status
41:53all street signs and map entries were removed 80 kilometers further out in the outback rafael discovers
41:59a junction i think that was the actual access to the mine
42:05a simple sign blocks the way into the mine and details the dangers it would be easy to get around
42:15but rafael decides to keep following the main road and then i think this is it
42:23no barrier no fence only a board on the roadside reads enter at your own risk
42:2942 degrees in the shade but as we know there is no shade here the heat slaps me in the face but
42:39that's frankly the least of my concerns i'm actually really nervous because i have no idea what to expect
42:47how dangerous is this place really
42:49do you hear that that sounds like a motor engine maybe a generator
43:07this actually looks like someone's living here
43:15hello
43:19hello
43:28yeah we are journalists from germany hi hi buddy hi buddy and yeah we were told that
43:37are you actually living here yeah since when for how long oh nearly 30 years yeah and you are
43:45are you living on your own yeah yeah may i come in and have a look yeah oh thank you
43:53what kind of a guy must he be to actually live here
43:56so how is life here in pippenheim well i like it yeah yeah yeah but all the people went went away
44:10why did you stay here well i come after the mine closed and because i like i like i like it here
44:19yeah this is an austrian flag yeah i'm austrian originally really yeah let me introduce mario hartmann
44:30from vorarlberg his german's a bit rusty but that doesn't stop him proudly showing me his garden
44:36he can really show his pride for it a homemade pool running water a vegetable patch
44:48a solar panel system on the roof a completely bizarre situation i could easily forget that i'm currently in
44:56one of the most polluted places in the world if not for my constant fear of my mask moving out of position
45:04i feel so silly here with a safety suit and a gas mask at 50 degrees centigrade
45:09and he is here in his flip-flops and without a shirt
45:12but i still think it's the right thing to do even if i am on the verge of having a heat stroke
45:27i don't want to be rude or um you know because of the mask what do you think about it wow
45:35i don't think it's a problem here yeah
45:38i mean i've been here 30 years it's safe here yeah i reckon the town is pretty good
45:46you know as long as you don't dig the dispestas up and all that i reckon it's all right
45:52okay and the big mess is out in the gorge are you just lucky that you don't get the disease or
46:02is it just well it's like cancer some people get it and some don't
46:08no it's not like cancer it is cancer and i don't have to be the one who finds out today where you
46:14get it here and where you don't but my mask doesn't seem to bother mario at all he proudly shows me his
46:21city a completely different side of biternum which gives an idea of what it must have been like here
46:27although the mine closed in 1966 for economic reasons biternum remained as the largest city in
46:38northwestern australia however the inhabitants of the still heavily contaminated city began to die of
46:45lung diseases many moved away a handful remained it was not until the late 1980s that the government
46:54began demolished houses and burying them in a large ravine that's when the austrian emigrant mario
47:04centered his chance and began to earn his living as a kangaroo hunter in the area at some point the
47:11last inhabitants were gone mario stayed and he found a new job we only have to read now now only read the
47:20ages 42.3 is not that hot well i say that's enough
47:41mario works for the australian weather service twice a day he collects data temperature precipitation
47:48cloud formations he sends them using a satellite phone to the airport in perth
47:54thousand kilometers away mario's information is important for forecasts for air traffic
48:03a surreal scene in the middle of this ghost town a meticulously maintained tidy house
48:09financed with two shifts of 10 minutes work per day about 850 dollars a month okay
48:19that's a good amount isn't it yeah but you have to be here all the time like you have to do it all
48:25at all so no vacation for you nine o'clock in the morning 365 days a year nine o'clock in the morning
48:32and three o'clock in the afternoon that's it so for me it's very hard to go away see but what did
48:38you get do or sick or well i've just been in the purse and i had to get somebody to come here from
48:44tom price to do it look i can't leave here because of the power and everything okay you have to run the
48:50power and i got the dog and i got a rabbit and what do you do when you break your leg somewhere out into
48:56the object well i already had some problems you know i dislocated my shoulder and stuff
49:04well just somebody i made a morning or whatever has to come here and then i have to go away but
49:11it's that's why i'm not going away that's it i'm usually always here
49:17once the pride of a region twice as big as germany now a ghost town in the middle of nowhere
49:32biternal 80 of all inhabitants have since died as a result of asbestos contamination
49:40only an austrian hasn't been defeated by the town quite the contrary
49:46what do you miss most oh nothing really i reckon it's still too many houses here now
49:52i like it yeah because if we wouldn't have the asbestos there'd be this be a big tourist thing
50:01here there'd be people everywhere and i wouldn't be here then
50:06on my trip to the contaminated lost place i expected a sad intimidating city and that's
50:18vitenum no question i can't wait to leave this place and protection suit behind
50:25for mario it's exactly the city in which he wants to live
50:29and thanks to him vitenum is not quite as lost as it seems
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