The Turkmen President Berdymukhamedov has hired experts to find a way to finally extinguish a massive, five-decade-old fire in a huge natural gas crater in the Central Asian country, the so-called “Gate to Hell”.
Turkmenistan’s president has ordered the extinguishing of a fire that has been burning for decades in a huge desert crater. (Photo: AFP)
Turkmenistan’s rulers have instructed experts to find a way to finally put out a massive five-decade-old fire in a giant natural gas crater in what has been dubbed the “gateway to hell” in the Central Asian country.
Citing environmental and economic concerns, President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov appeared on state television Saturday calling on officials to put out the flames at Darvaza gas crater in the middle of the vast Karakum Desert.
In 2010, Berdymukhamedov also ordered experts to find a way to put out the flames that have been burning since the failure of a Soviet drilling operation in 1971.
(Photo: AFP)
President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov said the man-made crater “has a negative impact on both the environment and the health of people living nearby.”
“We are losing precious natural resources that we could make significant profits on and use to improve the well-being of our people,” he said on televised notes.
Berdymukhamedov instructed officials “to find a solution to put out the fire”.
The crater was formed in 1971 in a Soviet drilling accident that struck a gas cavern, causing the oil rig to collapse and the earth below it collapsing.
(Photo: AFP)
To prevent the dangerous fumes from spreading, the Soviets decided to burn the gas by igniting it.
The pit has been on fire ever since, and previous attempts to extinguish it have been unsuccessful.
The resulting crater – 70 meters (229 feet) wide and 20 meters (65 feet) deep – is a popular tourist attraction in former Soviet lands.
In 2018 the President officially renamed him the “Shining of Karakum”.
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