Door to Hell

Door to Hell

How long can a fire burn in the Door to Hell?

The Door to Hell is among the largest deposits of natural gas in the world, located in the Karakum Desert in Turkmenistan’s Derweze, in Asia.
‘The Door to Hell’ is also known as ‘Gates of Hell’, the ‘Gas Crater of Darvaza’, ‘Derweze Crater’ and the ‘Darvaza Crater’.
The Door to Hell gas field is said to have been discovered by petrochemical engineers from the Soviet Union in 1971 and a drilling rig was soon established.
Early on, during the gas drilling stage at the Door to Hell, the site collapsed and formed a 69 metre (225 feet) diameter hole, that is 30 metres (99 feet) deep.
When the collapse at the Door to Hell occurred, large quantities of toxic and non-environmentally friendly methane gas were released, which to remove, was set alight.

The original fire of the Door to Hell is said to have been burning since 1971, although at the time, it was expected that the fire would only last a few days or weeks.
In late 2013, adventurer George Kourounis, a Canadian, reached the Door to Hell’s base, becoming the first person to accomplish this, and he collected soil samples from within that contained extremophile bacteria.
To protect and allow future gas mining in the area, the Door to Hell was commanded to be closed in early 2010, by Turkmenistan’s then President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, although it was not accomplished.
The nearby town of Derweze is said to have had a forced population reduction from approximately 1,700 people, to 350 in 2004, by the then President Saparmurat Niyazov’s orders, to ‘protect’ the tourism industry of the Door to Hell.
The Door to Hell is a popular tourist attraction for those visiting the area, with people venturing onto the crater’s edges, which are susceptible to collapsing, to view the spectacular fires in the crater.

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