The ‘Gate to Hell' has been open for 50 years but is finally burning out
Deep in the arid desert of Turkmenistan, a huge crater has been burning with the wrath of a thousand flames, night and day, day and night.
Tourists flock to its precipitous edges, while after dark, spiders are drawn to its brilliant glow, hypnotically crawling to a fiery death.
But this isn't Hell. It's a massive hole accidentally set alight for decades by Soviet engineers. Obviously.
Now, it looks like it is finally burning out, after the government launched a bid to deprive it of the methane it needs to keep burning.
Satellite images show how it is now just smoldering in the desert, a far cry from the sheet of fire once seen for miles which earned its nickname.
AKI news agency, based in neighbouring Kyrgyzstan, reported that the burning has reduced by more than three times compared to August 2023.
Irina Luryeva, of the Research Institute of Natural Gas of the Turkmengas Concern said increased gas production nearby made it possible 'to take control of the filtration flow, now the gas supply to the burning crater is gradually decreasing.'
No-one knows how the pit, officially called the Darvaza crater, was first formed before it was set aflame. Perhaps there was simply no one around. Or maybe it's classified.
Some believe engineers were drilling for oil when a rig gave way and punched into a massive underground natural gas cavern, forming the huge crater, 70 metres wide and 30 metres deep.
Whatever its origin, it's fair to say its legendary status hails from one very bad decision.
In the 1980s, as the crater continued leaking poisonous gases, those in the know thought the best solution was to simply burn them off.
Side note: Turkmenistan has the sixth largest gas reserves in the world. Enough to keep aglow for quite some time.
And so, 50 years on, it relentlessly rumbled on, burning methane that would really be better off in the ground.
Former president Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov demanded that a plan to finally extinguish the crater should be put in place, as far back as 2010.
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In 2022, he appeared on state television to tell officials to put out the hellish flames, saying the human-made crater 'negatively affects both the environment and the health of the people living nearby'.
He added: 'We are losing valuable natural resources for which we could get significant profits and use them for improving the wellbeing of our people', and instructed officials to 'find a solution to extinguish the fire'.
It took until the following year for the plan to actually take shape – and even now, it hasn't gone out completely.
Turkmenistan: the lowdown
Turkmenistan is 80% desert
Turkmen melons have their own national holiday
Turkmenistan has the sixth largest oil and natural gas reserves in the world
It is one of the least visited countries in the world, reporting 14,438 tourists in 2019. It just reopened for tourists in 2023
The country had a President for Life, Saparmurat Niyazov, until his death in 2006. He ruled for 21 years.
The country formed a space agency in 2011, and launched a satellite in 2015
Only one man has ever descended into the Gates of Hell, explorer George Kourounis. During his visit met with local geologists 'who have been there for decades', and said the collapse may have happened in the 1960s.
'It's hard for me to back that up, but this is basically straight from the horse's mouth,' said Mr Kourounis.
But anything is possible when there are no records to confirm or deny.
'Day or night, it is clearly burning. You can hear the roar of the fire if you stand at the edge,' said Mr Kourounis.
'The heat, if you are downwind of it, is unbearable.
'There are thousands of little flames all around the edges and towards the centre. Then there are two large flames in the middle at the bottom, and that is probably where the drilling rig hole was for the natural gas extraction.'
But its mystery origin is now secondary, as there's a bigger problem at hand – climate change. Burning gas 24/7 isn't a great look in 2024.
It is still alight for now.
So as the Gates of Hell continue to burn, tourists will flock to the landlocked Asian country to get a last glimpse of this strange, and disastrous, human error.
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