captu101
The Darvaza well


40bthe10
In the middle of the Karakoum (Turkmenistan) desert, close to the disappeared village called
Darvaza, there is a crater of about one hundred meters of diameter and more than twenty meters of
depth,
called “the hell’s door”.

Inside this well, a fire has been burning for dozens of years, a fire that looks endless.



The Darvaza well is not a work of nature, but the result of an unfortunate soviet mining
prospection started in the 50’s.
turk_iran089

In 1971, a drilling provoked the collapse of an underground cavity, so revealing  a gaping hole
leaking enormous quantities of gas.
turk_iran103

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turk_iran092
The geologists decided to torch the well
to eliminate such toxic gas,

The soviets grossly underestimated the dimensions of the cavity:
the gas that should have burned out within a few weeks has actually kept burning without
interruption since 1971!

It is unknown for how long “the « hell’s door » will keep on burning.
Even though the well of Darvaza is located in a region difficult to access,
a lot of people gather there to observe this fascinating phenomenon.

The intense heat coming from the crater allows to approach the place only for a few minutes because
of the unbearable temperature.
turk_i10