IN THE HOT, EXPANSIVE KARAKUM desert in Turkmenistan, near the 350-person village of Darvaza, is a hole 230 feet wide that has been on fire for over 50 years. Though technically called the Darvaza gas crater, locals know the crater as “The Gates of Hell.” Its fiery glow can be seen for miles around.
Though technically called the Darvaza gas crater, locals know the crater as “The Gates of Hell.” Its fiery glow can be seen for miles around.
The Gates of Hell crater was created in 1971 when a Soviet drilling rig accidentally punched into a massive underground natural gas cavern, causing the ground to collapse and the entire drilling rig to fall in. Having punctured a pocket of gas, poisonous fumes began leaking at an alarming rate.
Aware of the dangers of the poisonous methane gas, the scientists made a decision to burn off the gas and stop the leakage. This process, known as flaring, is quite common.
The scientists made calculations that the gas would burn off in few weeks, but they were wrong. The sinkhole has been burning for the last 46 years.
Scientists have no accurate information about the amount of gas left in the hole, so no one can guess when the burning will stop. The image of the huge fiery hole in the ground is striking, so it’s no wonder that the local people have named it “The Door to Hell.” The word Darvaza itself means Gate in the Turkmen language.
Amazingly, despite the crater’s foreboding name and ever-present flames, people still trek into the desert to witness the site in all its blazing glory. The nearby desert has become a popular place for wild camping.
The Darvaza Gas Crater has been an object of interest to many scientists and explorers. The famous Canadian explorer George Kourounis went farthest, becoming the first man to ever descend into the crater.
Equipped with a special suit made of heat-reflective material and a breathing apparatus, he walked the bottom of the sinkhole for 15 minutes, collecting samples of dirt for examination. The analysis of the samples revealed that bacteria were living in the hot, harsh environment.
But the fate of the burning crater may be in limbo. In January 2022, President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov ordered the government of Turkmenistan to begin researching how to put the fire out.
