Earth’s ‘Door to Hell’ Gas Crater Is Closing

After 54 years, the blazing fire inside Darvaza Gas Crater, also known as the “Door to Hell,” seems to be diminishing for the first time since its accidental creation. Knewz.com has learned that the “Door to Hell” gas crater, located in the Karakum Desert in Turkmenistan, has been burning away millions of cubic meters’ worth of natural gas every year.

The ‘Door to Hell’ Was Accidentally Created in the 1970s

The origin of the “Door to Hell” gas crater has been shrouded in mystery, although stories suggest that it was created in 1971 when Soviet geologists accidentally drilled into a natural gas chamber while surveying the region’s vast fuel reserves. The team of geologists then ignited the leaking fumes to prevent the wider release of toxic gas and prevent a major environmental disaster, hoping that the resulting fire would die out within a few weeks. However, the inferno kept burning for the next 54 years.

An Enormous Gas Crater

The “Door to Hell” gas crater currently measures roughly 230 feet wide by 100 feet deep, and the temperature of the flames often exceeds 1,832 degrees Fahrenheit. “It is burning with a tremendous amount of flame like there is a lot of fire down there… Day or night, it is clearly burning. You can hear the roar of the fire if you stand at the edge. The heat, if you are downwind of it, is unbearable. There are thousands of little flames all around the edges and towards the center. 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,” said George Kourounis, a Canadian adventurer and former host of TV’s Angry Planet, adding that the crater looks like a volcano in the middle of the desert.

A Tourism Hotspot

The Darvaza Gas Crater is truly a tourism “hotspot,” attracting more than 10,000 visitors every year. Kourounis himself waited for years before he could finally rappel down the fiery pit and click some amazing photographs of the place. Despite being one of the most iconic landmarks in the world, it is not easy for tourists to visit the “Door to Hell” because Turkmenistan is one of the most closed countries in the world. Korounis noted that the biggest obstacle he had to overcome during his visit to the gas crater was bureaucracy. “The biggest goal was just getting permission to get into the country. … That was our biggest concern because Turkmenistan is one of the most closed countries in the world,” the adventurer said in a statement.

The ‘Door to Hell’ is Slowly Cooling Off

After half a century of burning, the flames of the fiery pit are seemingly gradually cooling down, according to experts. At a recent international conference on hydrocarbon development hosted in Turkmenistan’s capital of Ashgabat, Darvaza’s stewards said that the “Door to Hell” is finally closing. Irina Luryeva, director of the country’s state-owned energy company Turkmengaz, told conference attendees that the “reduction [in fires] is nearly threefold.” Previously, the fiery illumination of the crater could be seen for miles across the desert. But now, the flames can only be seen upon close inspection. Recent efforts have been made to construct multiple containment wells to capture the remaining leaking methane before it reaches the atmosphere.

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