Strangest Mysteries of the World and Beyond !

The Door to Hell

Dedicated to Hardik for supporting me. You're really sweet!

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The Door to Hell 

“The Door to Hell” is more than a scene out of a movie, it’s a giant flaming hole in the middle of the Karakum Desert that has been burning for 40 years.

The long burning crater is located in the middle of the Karakum Desert in Derweze, Turkmenistan.

While Biblical alarmists might point to the "Door of Hell" as yet another sign of a coming apocalypse, but it definitely has a scientific explanation.

Soviet geologists were drilling at the site in 1971 and tapped into a cavern filled with natural gas.

But the ground beneath the drilling rig collapsed, leaving a hole with a diameter of 70 metres. Fearing that the hole would lead to the release of poisonous gases, the team decided to burn it off. It was hoped that the fire would use all the fuel within days, but the gas is still burning today. The flames generate a golden glow which can be seen for miles around Derweze, a village with a population of about 350.

The site is about 260 kilometres north of Ashgabat, the capital of Turkmenistan.

Visitors coming to see “The Door to Hell” can only spend about 5 minutes on average around the site because of the hazardous methane gas the flaming hole produces. It is such a unique sight that many people journey to see the burning crater in the middle of the Karakum Desert.

Would you pay a visit before it is covered up and closed as has been ordered by the Turkmenistan president?