Gates of Hell: Turkmenistan plans to close its blazing gas crater

A tourist destination in Turkmenistan called the “Gates of Hell” could soon be extinguished. President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow is calling for the closure of the blazing natural gas crater that has been burning since the 1970s.

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The Darvaza crater located about 160 miles north of the capital, Ashgabat, formed when the ground collapsed during a Soviet gas drilling expedition in the Karakum desert.

“There’s a lot of controversy as to how we believe it was formed. Essentially there was a sinkhole that formed and caused a drilling rig basically harvesting this methane gas to collapse,” explorer George Kourounis said. Kourounis was part of the first-ever expedition to descend into the fiery gas crater back in 2013.

Berdimuhamedow has ordered his government to look for ways to put the fire out. According to the state-run newspaper Neytralny Turkmenistan, the crater is causing ecological damage and affecting the health of people living in the area.

At present, there is no set deadline for closing the Darvaza crater or extinguishing the fire.

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