The dead island is suspected to be a test site for Soviet biological weapons

Vozrozhdeniya island became abandoned after the emergence of dead germs in the 1970s.

In the waters between Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan there is an island named Vozrozhdeniya , meaning "reborn" in Russian, but a deadly wilderness, according to the BBC.

The scene of death on Vozrozhdeniya island.(Video: YouTube).

The island today is filled with sand and toxic chemicals. The Soviet-era biological weapons research and testing project is believed to be the culprit that turned the once-bustling fishing village into one of the deadliest in the world.

Vozrozhdeniya was involved in a series of calamities since the 1970s. In 1971, a young scientist became seriously ill after returning from a research trip on the explorer Lev Berg. Strangely, she was diagnosed with smallpox, even though she had previously been vaccinated. She finally recovered, but 9 others were infected and three of them could not survive.

In 1972, the bodies of two missing fishermen were discovered on a drifting boat near the island. It is thought that they are infected with bubonic plague. Not long after, the locals began pulling up a series of dead fish. In May 1988, 50,000 Saiga antelope grazing on the nearby steppe zone died unexplained.

Photos taken by the CIA in the air in 1962 show that the island has barracks, shooting schools, even research areas, animal camps and outdoor experimental areas, a sign of a weapons experiment facility. The world's most dangerous biology.

Tanks and many military equipment were left on the island.(Photo: Ninurta).

The biological weapon project is completely secret, the island base is not marked on the Soviet map. Those who know about the project call it Aralsk-7.

Aralsk-7 is part of a large-scale bio-weapons program with more than 50,000 participants and at least 52 production facilities across the Soviet Union. Anthrax germs originally produced in large fermentation tanks are like brewing beer in Compound 19, the nearest laboratory facility is located near Yekatarinburg.

The Soviet Union developed the Aralsk-7 project in a biological weapons race with Britain and the United States to turn more deadly, dangerous, horrible and deadly pathogens. Scientists must ensure that bacteria can fight antibiotics and are still able to spread the disease to people who have been vaccinated.

In 1972, the Soviet Union began to develop a terrible type of anthrax called STI by applying molecular genetics. Scientists took genes from Bacillus cereus bacteria and added anthrax pathogens with the most advanced scientific techniques.

In addition to being resistant to many antibiotics, pathogens are also decided by scientists to supplement toxins that can disrupt red blood cells and decompose human tissue.

Common anthrax spores can be caught in the nose and do not always cause illness. The Soviet Union wanted to crush them with industrial equipment. As a result, they are only 5 micrometers long, 30 times smaller than the width of human hair, the perfect size for humans to inhale.

In 1988, after a leak in Compound 19 that killed at least 105 people, the Soviet Union decided to destroy this anthrax bacterial reservoir. Crates containing anthrax spores are mixed with disinfectants and transferred to Vozrozhdeniya. This 100–200 ton bio-mixture was buried under the hole and forgotten.

However, anthrax bacteria exist naturally in spore form and have strong vitality, whether exposed to toxic detergents or heated to 180 degrees Celsius for two minutes, they remain unharmed. . When buried underground, they can last for hundreds of years. This turned Vozrozhdeniya into an anthrax island , sowing horrible nightmares for all living beings.

The island was abandoned in the 1990s. About a decade later, the United States sent expert teams to inspect the island. The exact location of the pathogen containers was not disclosed, but the burial holes were so large that they could be seen through photos from outer space.

Abandoned buildings make the island gloomy.(Photo: Ninurta).

Live anthrax spores are found in some soil samples. At that time, the US spent 6 million USD for the project to clean up this place. Experts dig a deep moat near the old burial pit, use more plastic lining and thousands of kilograms of a strong powder detergent. They transferred several tons of contaminated soil to the pit and destroyed anthrax spores after incubating them with detergent for 6 days at high temperatures.

However, half a century of conducting outdoor experiments caused the entire island to become infected, not just the experimental area . "There will still be anthrax there," said Les Baillie, an international anthropologist at Cardiff University.

Nick Middleton, a journalist and geographer at Oxford University and Dave Butler, a former British military expert, led a research team to Vozrozhdeniya island. As a precaution, Butler gave the team a antibiotics a week before the trip. They also wear gas masks, thick rubber boots and wear protective gear as soon as they set foot on the island.

The base on Vozrozhdeniya is divided into two parts: the town of Kantubek where scientists and their families live and the experimental complex. Kantubek today becomes a "ghost town" of ruins. "There's no bird or insect. Everything is completely quiet," Middleton described.

The scene of the research group seen at the complex is called PNIL very horribly. Large glass tanks contain toxic substances that join each other. The floor was covered with fragments of hundreds of thousands of glass vials, test tubes and plates. Protective suits, gas masks, gas pipes are everywhere.

Upon returning, the team had to examine the body thoroughly to avoid the risk of infection. They are so careful because anthrax can spread through many sugars and cause sick people to die in different ways.

Anthrax can be transmitted through the intestine, common in herbivores such as cattle, horses, and goats. This method today still causes many deaths in developing countries. Symptoms are varied, often including vomiting, diarrhea, lesions from the mouth to the intestines. In addition, anthrax can also be spread by skin contact.

The most annoying way to get sick is to breathe in spores that cause disease. When entering the body, it will first reach the lymph nodes, then germinate and multiply, spill into the bloodstream, leading to extensive tissue damage and internal bleeding.

"It will be an ideal biological weapon. They can take spores out of nature," said Talima Pearson, a biologist at Northern Arizona University.

Inside an old test site on Vozrozhdeniya island.(Photo: Ninurta).

The team also explained the reasons for the disasters around the island in the 1970s and 1980s. The then-explorer Lev Berg got lost to the smallpox pathogen transformed into a biological weapon. The pathogen may be Indian in 1967, according to David Evans, a virus expert at the University of Alberta.

This type of disease is extremely dangerous, the first sample was taken from an Indian man to Moscow in 1967. It is possible that the young scientist on the Lev Berg vessel is still infected with the vaccine despite the vaccine. ineffective or exposed to too high levels of bacteria.

The island is no longer able to infect smallpox, according to Evans, who studies the vaccine of a similar virus."In the lab, we store the virus at - 80 degrees Celsius under ideal conditions, but they still lose their ability to infect," he said.

The Soviet Union had also studied the plague shift into biological weapons, and the disease is still prevalent in Central Asia, even the number of cases has increased sharply after the Soviet Union disintegrated in 1991. However, the school The mass of fish and saiga antelope died on the island without a clear explanation.