ALMATY (Reuters) - After a weeks-long disappearance that sparked rumours of his death, the president of Turkmenistan, Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, appeared on state television on Sunday driving a rally car to a flaming gas crater known as Hell's Gate.
The 62-year-old autocratic leader disappeared from public view in late July and several foreign media outlets, citing unnamed sources, reported at the time that he had died. The government of the gas-exporting Central Asian country denied that and said he was simply on vacation.