In the hot, expansive Karakum desert in Turkmenistan, near the 350
person village of Derweze, is a hole 328 feet wide that has been on
fire. For 38 years it has constantly been active. This hole is known as
the Darvaza Gas Crater or the "Gates of Hells" by locals, the crater can
be seen glowing for miles around.
The hole is the outcome not of
nature but of an industrial accident. In 1971 a Soviet drilling rig
accidentally punched into a massive underground natural gas cavern,
causing the ground to collapse and the entire drilling rig to fall in.
Having punctured a pocket of gas, poisonous fumes began leaking from the
hole at an alarming rate. To head off a potential environmental
catastrophe, the Soviets set the hole alight. The crater hasn't stopped
burning since.
Though little information is available about the
fate of the Soviet drilling rig, presumably it is still down there
somewhere, on the other side of the "Gates of Hell."
No comments:
Post a Comment