The Aral Sea is a formerly undrained salt lake in Central Asia, located on the border of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. Since the 1960s, the level of the sea began to decline rapidly because of the diversion of water for irrigation purposes from the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers.

Several port cities, such as Aralsk, suddenly found themselves far from the sea, many ships were abandoned. Photos by: Denis Frantsouzov.

once it was the sea

Tags: Abandoned · Kzyl-Orda oblast