Mud volcano erupts in Baku

The residents of Baku’s Qaradağ district witnessed a unique natural phenomenon. Otman-Bozdag mud volcano erupted in the vicinity of Sangachal settlement, 70 kilometers south-west of Azerbaijani capital. The volcanic eruption lasted for 6 minutes, sending blazing flames 20-25 meters above the crater.

According to the Azerbaijani Emergency Situations Ministry press service, no casualties or damage have been reported as a result of eruption. The eruption has now subsided.

As Jeyhun Pashayev, the Director of the State Natural Reserve of the Group of mud volcanoes of Baku and Absheron Peninsula, told Trend news agency, ‘this volcano isn’t characterized by particular activity. It erupted three times: in 1845, 1951 and 1961. In Pashayev’s words, although the volcanic eruption has stopped, it’s not recommended to approach the volcano in the next few days.

Some local residents mistakenly took the volcanic eruption for gas explosion. There were some reports in this regard on social media. The matter is that Sangachal settlement is located in the vicinity of Baku-Ceyhan oil pipeline and there was a gas pipeline explosion in that area last year.

There were mud volcano eruptions on the Absheron Peninsula earlier as well. The latest ones took place in 2014 and 2012.