It happened in 1960 in Indonesia, or rather, in the western part of the island of New Guinea, which was then under the control of Holland and was called West Irian. In the spring of that year, or rather on March 5, a Dutch expedition, consisting of 5 Dutch geologists, set off inland. The group was dropped from a helicopter in a completely undiscovered area, at the foot of the Maoke mountain range, south of one of Irian's largest rivers, Taritatu. According to some reports, diamond deposits could be found in this area, at least so the management of the Dutch branch of De Beers believed. The expedition was headed by an experienced diamond specialist, Professor Peter Martens. A camp was set up in a small valley near the supposed kimberlite pipe, hidden in the wild jungle on the slope of several "fused" mountains. At the agreed time, about a dozen local residents joined this camp - they had been hired earlier as porters and guides.
It took two days to reconnoitre the area and determine the routes, and on March 8 the expedition set out. They had to climb high into the mountains, wading through the virgin jungle, and in the evening a halt was made - people began to prepare for the night. By one in the morning, everyone was asleep when a terrible roar was heard in the mountains. Everyone jumped up and saw a shine over the mountains. All this looked like a volcanic eruption, but no shaking was felt, and accordingly, nothing indicated the tectonic nature of the explosion and aurora. Meanwhile, there was another explosion, already more dull, the radiance, on the contrary, intensified, but after a few seconds it disappeared. A rumble rolled through the mountains, and soon everything was quiet, as if nothing had happened. The natives were extremely alarmed, one of them suddenly remembered that the area in the mountains where the expedition was headed,has long been considered the habitat of some native god who flew in from the sky. This was completely inappropriate, the natives were very frightened, and in the morning, barely dawn, they packed up their things and, in spite of the admonitions of Martens and even the promise of a significant increase in reward, they fled home.
The expedition found itself in a difficult position. The equipment had been moved into the mountains too much to be carried away by the five remaining Dutchmen. Moreover, one had to climb higher and higher, and at best, along animal paths, which were very little suitable for human movement, and besides, they had to constantly look for them, wasting time and energy. But this was not the main problem - it was necessary to find out what happened there in the mountains, and how this event could affect the further conduct of the expedition?
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