Officials say the 'Gateway to Hell' is closing after blazing non-stop for 50 years
After burning away in Turkmenistan for the past 50 years, the so-called 'Gateway to Hell' could finally be closing.
Officially known as the Darvaza gas crater, bumbling Soviet scientists are said to have lit the crater to stop poisonous gases from spreading.
Thousands of gas fires burn in the crater, with it becoming a major tourist attraction in Turkmenistan. Having burned for so many decades, there are obvious concerns about the amount of polluting methane gases that are being pumped out.
Unlike the burning real-life Silent Hill, the 'Gateway to Hell' remains a popular tourist trap.
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The Gateway to Hell is up to 70 meters wide and as deep as 30 meters, while another nearby gas crater is fenced off and is said to have a distinct odor.
It's unclear how the crater first formed, with records from the time mysteriously not existing.
Some claim the collapse happened in the '60s, while others suggest Soviet engineers drilled it as an oil field in 1971. The Soviets are said to have punctured a gas pocket, which caused the collapse and the crater to form as toxic gases began to seep from the Earth.
It's assumed that they thought the fire would only last for a few days, but 54 years later, they’re still burning brightly.
The question is, how much longer will they burn for?
As reported by the Daily Mail, officials claim that the fires are up to three times smaller than they've been in the past, with them only visible in the immediate vicinity.
Speaking at a fossil fuel conference, Irina Luryeva, a director at state-owned energy company Turkmengaz explained: "Before a huge glow from the blaze was visible from several kilometres away, hence the name 'Gateway to Hell'. Today only a faint source of combustion remains."
Turkmenistan is said to have the world's fourth-largest reserve of natural gas, with it mostly scattered across pockets that can be found beneath the desert.
National leader Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov filmed himself driving a rally car around the pit in 2019, all in hopes of disproving rumors about his death.
Despite this, Berdymukhamedov announced in 2022 that he wanted to be the person who finally closed the gates forever.
The country's leader explained: "We are losing valuable natural resources for which we could get significant profits and use them for improving the well-being of our people."
The International Energy Agency published a survey stating that Turkmenistan was the world's largest emitter of methane via gas leaks.
Intelligence company Kayrros also found that two of the country's fossil fuel fields were contributing more to global warming than the entirety of the UK's carbon emissions in 2022.
Two new wells have since been drilled in hopes of catching any excess methane.
Combining this with recommissioning older gas pumps is thought to be drawing the natural gas away and leading to the decrease in the ferocity of the fires that have been reported.