Sebastião Salgado. Kuwait

When Iraqi troops set fire to the country's oil fields on their withdrawal from Kuwait in 1991, Sebastião Salgado photographed the desperate efforts of the firefighters to contain the inferno of the burning desert. "To me, these men are the true heroes of the war. Smeared from head to foot in oil, they moved like ghosts through this misery. The roar of the flames forced them to shout in each other's ears to communicate. I am as impressed with the firefighters' dedication today as I was a quarter of a century ago." - Sebastião Salgado.