Dictator drives rally car around 'Gateway to Hell' volcano to prove he's alive

The dictator of Turkmenistan has driven around a scorching pit of fire to quash rumours that he is dead.



Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov hopped in a rally car and drove at break neck speed through the Karakum Desert before performing a doughnut around the edge of the 'Gateway to Hell'.



The flaming crater has been a scorching landmark in the Asian country since 1971, when Soviet geologists looking for oil stumbled on natural gas and then sparked it in a bid to stop it spreading.



The 62-year-old leader was not just showing off his daredevil driving skills however, CNN reports .



Following several weeks out of the public eye in July, an analyst told a Russian radio station that he had heard rumours from businessmen in Turkmenistan that Berdymukhamedov was dead.



Despite the central Asian country's embassy in Russia dubbing the rumour an "absolute hoax", it took the dictator's TV appearance looking at pictures of bus shelters at the end of July for people to realise he was still going.