Inside the eerie abandoned ghost towns frozen in time after residents fled hellish -50C temperatures for good

YOU WOULD be forgiven for thinking hell has frozen over when looking at these snaps of the Sementnozavodsky region in Russia.

The eerie images, taken 11 miles from the coal-mining town of Vorkuta, depict a derelict ghost town of which every inch is covered in snow.

One of the coldest cities in Europe, Vorkuta plummets to unbearable temperatures as low as -50C in the winter months.

It is the fourth largest city north of the Arctic Circle, hence its extraordinary weather conditions, which sees mammoth buildings covered in blankets of snow.

But the numbing temperatures and rising unemployment have left some areas of the settlement deserted.

Its estimated population of 70,548 people endure short, cool summers and long, snowy winters in the town, that was once home to a Stalin-established Gulag prison camp.

Aerial shots of a construction car park smothered in the white stuff will have Brits thanking their lucky stars next time its windscreen-scraping season. Disused lorries have been buried by the snowfall.

Impressively large icicles dangle in front of the windows and down the front of buildings – and the cold still can’t be escaped inside, as frost covers walls, snow sticks to the ceilings, and spills down staircases.

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An aerial view of a construction site in the coal-mining town Vorkuta blanketed by snow[/caption]

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Snow somehow covers every inch of the room, ceilings, walls, windows and all![/caption]

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Snow and ice appears to seep down the front of this abandoned building in the town[/caption]

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The settlement 11 miles from Vorkuta resembles a ghost town – streets are empty except for snow[/caption]

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The shockingly low temperatures are influenced by the settlements distance to the North Atlantic and the proximity to the Arctic Ocean[/caption]

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No where is safe from the unbelievably cold temperatures – including this staircase[/caption]

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Despite the biting temperatures, it enjoys a much less severe winters than Siberia[/caption]

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The buildings in the Sementnozavodsky region are constantly covered in snow[/caption]

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The thick snow buries and infiltrates anything in its path, seen in this image inside an abandoned building[/caption]

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Temperatures plummet as low as -50C in the settlement, 11 miles from the coal-mining town of Vorkuta[/caption]

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A sizeable snow pack is dropped each year during the winter because it is humid[/caption]

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Residents have been driven out of the remote area due to being unable to cope with the cold and rising unemployment[/caption]

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The nearby town of Vorkuta was once home to a Gulag prison camp run by Joseph Stalin[/caption]