The Door to HELL

Dramatic: The raging fire inside the crater has been burning for more than 40 years

At first glance, it could be a dramatic scene from a science-fiction movie.
But this giant hole of fire in the heart of the Karakum Desert is not the aftermath of an attack on Earth, launched from outer space.
It is a crater made by geologists more than 40 years ago, and the flames within have been burning ever since.
The Door to Hell is noted for its natural gas firing which has been burning continuously since it was lit by Soviet petrochemical scientists in 1971, fed by the rich natural gas deposits in the area. The pungent smell of burning sulfur pervades the area for some distance.

The ground beneath the drilling rig and camp collapsed into a wide crater and disappeared. No lives were lost in the incident. However, large quantities of methane gas were released, creating an environmental problem and posing a potential danger to the people of the nearby villages.
Fearing the release of further poisonous gases from the cavern, the scientists decided to burn it off. They thought that it would be safer to burn it than to extract it from underground through expensive methods. Methane gas released into the atmosphere is also a dangerous greenhouse gas whose potential for global warming is high. At that time, expectations were that the gas would burn within days, but it is still burning, four decades after it was set on fire.

Shining: The hole looks like a golden oasis in the middle of the desert in Turkmenistan

Source:Google, wiki and few other sources