THE GATES OF HELL

We don’t know much about after life or the existence of heaven or hell; but we can catch a glimpse of what it may look like. There is a small village located in the middle of Karakum desert named ‘Derweze’ in Turkmenistan. “Derveze” also spelled “Darvaza” means gate in Persian; encompasses a 328 feet wide hole in the face of earth which has been on fire for over 40 years now.

The locals call the crevasse “The Gates of Hell”. Story has it that the site was found by the soviet scientists in 1971 while drilling for oil. In the process they accidently perforated a massive pocket of natural gas beneath the surface. This resulted in collapse of the ground beneath the drilling rig. However, there were no human lives lost in the accident but it left behind a huge craven on the surface. So in order to avoid the escape of poisonous gases in the air, the Soviets lit the hole.

They hoped that the fire would consume all the fuel and extinguish within days, but it’s burning till date. The main source of the gases supporting the fire is methane.

The crater over the years has become a prime spot for international tourists and is an extremely beautiful sight to see at night.