they left kadykchan 20 years ago but they still think of it as home.leaders came and went at coalminers were always referred to as the heroes of the soviet union. the first turn of coal was mined here in 1937 as part ofjoseph stalin's brutal push to modernise the russian economy. the first miners were labour camp prisoners but as the decade progressed, ordinary workers were attracted to the far east because they could double their salaries and get an apartment for theirfamilies. it's hard to imagine this ghost town was once a thriving place. the fall of coming is and the economic crisis that the fall of communism and the economic crisis that engulfed the whole country reduced demand for kadykchan‘s coal and as soon as the mine got into trouble, everyone suffered. in the end, it was an accident which dealt the final blow. on the 15th of november, 1996 a methane explosion ripped through one of the mines just as the morning shift was coming to an end. as their world came crumbling down, everyone scrambled to sell up and leave. from one end of russia to th