The Burning Gates in Turkmenistan : Door to Hell

In the heart of the Karakum desert of Turkmenistan the Darvaza Gas Crater or The Burning Gates give off a glow that can be seen from miles away during the dark night. This place is called by locals “The Door to Hell”. It is situated near the small town of Darvaz in Turkmenistan. The story of this place started during a Soviet gas exploration accident in 1971. When a Soviet drilling rig was drilling for natural gas fell into an underground cavern resulting in a crater which today measures roughly 60 meters in diameter and 20 meters deep. The huge crater was set on fire shortly after being discovered and has been burning non-stop since then.





The smell of burning sulfur can be detected from a distance and becomes quite strong as you near the hot edge of the crater. Nobody knows how many tons of excellent gas has been burned for all those years but it just seems to be infinite.