Year 1992, place of action - Fergana Valley near the village of Mingbulak. A large oil field was discovered there, and for the first time in the world, oil was found at a depth of over 5000 meters, and the pressure at the exit from the wellbore reached 1200 atmospheres. This fact amazed not only ours, but also foreign experts.
Due to elementary negligence, a fire broke out in the well, but so powerful that they could not extinguish it for several months. Oil burst out in a powerful jet, flooded the earth and burned. This could have turned into an environmental disaster, and the special Vedomosti were already preparing to transport 200 cargo …
The oil-soaked ground around the fountain blazed over an area of 60 hectares. Firefighters could be only a few hundred meters from the epicenter, otherwise their special suits would start to smoke. And here's a striking fact: a dilapidated structure, located 20-30 meters from the well, did not catch fire for 20 days. It was the oil workers' temporary hut, made of plywood boxes. This fact (and many others) was confirmed in a personal conversation with me by the Deputy Minister of Uzbekistan for Ecology V. G. Konyukhov, who was in Mingbulak during the fire.
Later it turned out that when the oil first went out, they made a sacrifice in this temporary hut (they killed a rooster) and read prayers of thanksgiving to Allah. Local aksakals assured that it was these prayers that saved the temporary hut from fire for a long time.
Many people who worked to extinguish the fire heard unusual sounds coming from the well. Perhaps they were generated by the enormous pressure of the oil escaping from it, but nevertheless they caused a sense of horror among firefighters.
Another strange fact. The flame reached a height of 100-150 meters and from time to time changed into unusual images: it took the form of an old man's head in a turban, then a dragon's head appeared, then a genie with a beard, a pensively sad look and arms crossed on his chest appeared.
After long vain attempts by the emergency team to extinguish the fire, the aksakals offered to sacrifice a white camel to Allah. The council of elders was viewed with skepticism. Then the local population itself sacrificed a white bull on the edge of a charred piece of land. And what? Literally a few hours after the sacrifice, the layer of earth around the well for some unknown reason subsided and only after that it was possible to shoot down the flame from the bare wellbore and extinguish the fire with a shot.
The elders of these places, the aksakals, believe that the Earth is a huge living organism that breathes, is in motion and can get sick. By drilling a well, people inflicted a too deep wound on this organism, through which a lot of earthly blood - oil - flowed out. They are also sure that this is what caused the appearance of the dragon, genie and other mythical images.
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In addition, aksakals believe that since ancient times Mingbulak has been an unusual, as they say now, an anomalous place. There is a persistent belief that the Muslim religious teacher Saint Khizir still walks around the world. Where he sticks his staff, unusual events occur. So, maybe Saint Khizir did not ignore Mingbulak too?
Sergey Azadov