It has been renamed "Gateway to Hell" the crater about 70 meters wide and up to 50 meters deep, which burns continuously in the Karakum desert, in Turkmenistan. Formed at 260 kilometers from the capital Ashgabat, it is situated not far from the village of Derweze which, by a curious coincidence, in Turkmen language means "gate".
Contrary to what one might think, the Gate of Hell is not a natural phenomenon. This spectacular chasm the size of a football pitch has been burning since 1971, when a group of Soviet geologists began drilling for oil.
Right in the place where they had started to search for hydrocarbons, there was a gigantic cavern produced by water erosion, about which nothing was known.
Shortly after work began, the drills reached a pocket of natural gas, the roof of the cave collapsed and swallowed the scientists’ equipment.
This formed a depression about 70 meters wide and up to 50 meters deep.
