Turkmenistan President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov has instructed experts and officials to find means to extinguish a fire in a huge natural gas crater, the Darvaza gas crater. This massive five-decade-old fire in a giant natural gas crater in the Central Asian country is also known as the ‘Gateway to Hell’. The Turkmen President appeared on state television on Saturday 8th January 2022, telling officials to put out the flames at the Darvaza gas crater. The crater is situated in the middle of the vast Karakum desert.
Turkmenistan President instructed officials on Saturday to find ways to extinguish fire at ‘Gateway to Hell’, a gas crater that has been burning for decades after failed Soviet drilling.
— WION (@WIONews) January 10, 2022
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The crater has been a tourist attraction but the Turkmen President Berdymukhamedov has reportedly asked his cabinet to find a way to extinguish this fire. According to the state-published newspaper Neytralny Turkmenistan, several reasons were given for extinguishing the famous fire. Out of these, major reasons are negative effects on the health of people living nearby; wasting of valuable natural gas resources; and environmental damage. Turkmenistan’s deputy prime minister was instructed to gather scientists, and if necessary, to attract foreign consultants and find a solution for extinguishing the fire. However, no specific deadline for this task has yet been decided.
“We are losing valuable natural resources for which we could get significant profits and use them for improving the well-being of our people,” the president said while announcing the decision to extinguish the fire. He also cited environmental reasons for the same.
The Darvaza gas crater
The crater was created in 1971 during a Soviet drilling accident that hit a gas cavern. As a result, the drilling rig fell in and the earth collapsed underneath it. To prevent the dangerous fumes from spreading, the Soviets decided to burn off the gas by setting it on fire. The pit is burning ever since then. This crater is 70 meters wide and 20 meters deep. It has been a tourist attraction for four to five decades. Despite continuous fire inside, there is no fencing to the crater which makes it an even more thrilling experience to sit on its edge. In 2018, the President had officially renamed it the “Shining of Karakum”.
A popular site for desert adventure
Known locally as the door to hell, this fiery inferno would have been one of the largest gas reserves in the world. In 1971, a group of Soviet geologists went to the Karakum, in search of oil. They came across the crater and decided, it was a good place to drill. But shortly after they started drilling, the crater collapsed and began emitting dangerous methane gases. To stop the gas, the geologists came up with an idea to set the crater on fire expecting it to extinguish within a few weeks. But they underestimated the amount of gas hidden inside, so badly that a week-long blaze turned into a half-century-long bonfire that continues even today. Now it attracts thrill-seekers from all around the world. Despite the danger of an open fiery hole, it is not yet fenced off. One can stand right on its edge. This is why the place has become a popular site for desert adventure.
