Darvaz is a burning cave in Turkmenistan. Imagine, there is desert all around and suddenly among the sands there is a crater from which flames burst out. A real entrance to the underworld! Locals call this place “The Gates of Hell.”
Here, in the very center of the famous Karakum desert, there is a hot crater with a diameter of 60 meters and a depth of 20 meters. The gas in the well comes straight from the ground, splitting into many torches. Individual flames reach 10-15 meters in height.
This “wonder of the world” is located in Turkmenistan, in a place called Darvaza, which means “door”
In 1971, geologists in Turkmenistan (Darvaza) were drilling a well for gas production and stumbled upon an underground cavern. The drilling rig with all its equipment and vehicles fell down. Fortunately, no people were injured. Came from a man-made crater natural gas. To prevent anyone from getting poisoned, it was set on fire. And ever since then, unquenchable torches have been burning, frightening tourists and nomads. No one knows how many billions of cubic meters of valuable natural raw materials burned during the entire existence of the “gas well” 
Not far away there are two more failures of the same origin. They do not burn, the gas pressure is too weak. At the bottom of one of the craters there is bright water turquoise color
Is it any wonder that everything here is deserted and uninhabited. Animals, sensing the deadly gas, try to avoid it. Those who decide to look here even for a short time die and remain here forever.
Since then, unquenchable torches have been burning.
Year after year, humanity manages to find hitherto unexplored places, many of which do not fit into the existing picture of the world at all. One of them, whose name is probably known to all conspiracy theorists and superstitious people, is located on the territory of modern Turkmenistan.
Local residents call this failure a portal to the depths of hell - and it is quite difficult to argue with them, because Darvaza is a huge hole in the ground, blazing with flames for the past five decades. During this time, the local portal to hell has acquired dozens of legends, but the sources that tell it real story, there is very little left. 
How the doors of hell opened
This story began back in 1971. Geologists Soviet Union, who carried out underground gas exploration on the territory of modern Turkmenistan, discovered huge deposits near the town of Darvaza. Naturally, drilling work began almost immediately; exploration of the field was carried out very superficially. This is where the story of the failure, which is still burning to this day, began, which many superstitious people directly call the portal to hell.
Catastrophe
Setting up the derrick didn't take long. Gas production work was underway full swing, but one day engineers stumbled upon an underground cavern. The voids turned out to be so huge that breaking through the top layer caused a large-scale collapse - both the tower itself with all the equipment and a nearby vehicle fell through. Luckily, none of the workers were injured.
Frustrated hopes
The huge hole that formed in the ground was instantly filled with escaping gas. Biologists sounded the alarm, because it was destructive for both people and livestock - the agricultural area where the drilling was carried out was home to several large collective farms. Geologists decided to set fire to the collected gas, assuming that just a few days would be enough to burn it out. The operation was carried out on March 5, 1971. The flared gas, coming from the cavern around the clock, did not go out after several days. A flaming crater in the middle of the steppe has been scaring people for five decades.
Solution
They tried to fill the funnel several times. Nothing good came of this: the expedition, carried out in 1983, could not even complete a third necessary work, and in March 1992 another disaster occurred: a group of local environmental activists of five people died in full under unclear circumstances. This, of course, only added confidence to superstitious people in the infernal origin of the portal. Indeed, what kind of gas can burn for forty years in a row and not go out!Current state
Back in 2004, the government of Turkmenistan razed the village of Darvaza to the ground. Actually, there were no people left here anyway: even the most persistent ones preferred to move to quieter places. In 2010, President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov made a strong-willed decision to fill up the crater, because countless cubic meters of precious natural gas were burning there every second. But, paraphrasing a well-known saying, Gurbanguly assumes, but the reality is in favor: Darvaza is still burning and is not going to go out.
Koronis Expedition
In November 2013, famous traveler George Koronis decided to explore one of the most unusual places on the planet. He organized an expedition funded by National Geographic. The goal was, no less than, to go down to the bottom of the hot, burning crater and take soil samples. Preparing for the trip took Koronis a full year and a half, and the equipment was made from Kevlar in military factories. Then the brave traveler, despite the protests of numerous relatives, set off on his personal tour of Turkmen hell.
Life in the Underworld
Coronis was incredibly lucky - twice. Firstly, the equipment did not fail, and he simply survived. And, secondly, the researcher not only managed to take soil samples, but also discovered life at the bottom of the crater. The bacteria, which scientists were surprised to study already on the surface, do not live anywhere on earth, with the exception of this strange and terrible hole in the ground boiling with lava. This discovery greatly inspired astrobiologists, because now those planets where life was considered impossible may well turn out to be habitable.Darvaza- a famous gas crater located in the Karakum desert, 90 km from the village of Erbent in Turkmenistan. It is widely known for its continuous combustion, which has been observed for more than 40 years.
Coordinates: 40.167841 58.410761
Gates of Hell in Turkmenistan- that’s what the locals called their rather strange attraction. In some places you can also hear such names as Gate to Hell, Door to Hell, Darvaza or Door to the Underworld. This does not change the essence of the matter, because the local crater is another reminder that an ominous path to another world still exists.
And even though all judgments about the reality of the so-called “road to hell” are fictitious, the Darvaza gas crater is trying with all its might to show its true purpose. Anyone who falls down and falls into the mouth of the burning gas streams will lose any chance of survival. These are the realities that are difficult to come to terms with.
But this was not always the case, and literally 40 years ago, on the site of the current “Gateway to Hell,” there was a part of the desert called Karakum. It all started in 1971, when Soviet scientists discovered significant accumulations of underground gas at this site.
As a result, it was decided to drill a well, which would allow the extraction of considerable volumes of flammable substances in the future. And what a disappointment it was when geologists stumbled upon an underground void (cavern) and all their equipment, along with the drilling rig, went underground. But fortunately, no one from the expedition was injured.
Then the fun began. Natural gas, which tends to rise, began to escape from under the collapse. In this regard, it was decided to set it on fire so that it would not poison local residents and animals. According to the researchers, the intentional fire should have gone out after a few days, but more than 40 years have passed, and the fire from the crater is still burning.
The diameter of the burning crater is approximately 60 meters, and its depth varies between 20 meters. It is quite difficult to be near the gates to hell, because the air temperature here is very high, and the escaping flames sometimes reach a height of 10-15 meters.
All living things try to avoid the “Gateway to Hell”. The air here is quite poisonous, which is confirmed by the absence of any vegetation in the area.
Gates of Hell, Turkmenistan, video
Besides all that has been said, there is one more interesting fact, which not everyone knows about. Not far from the fire crater there are two similar failures with a similar origin. No one set them on fire, since the gas pressure here is much weaker than in Darvaz. Over time, a turquoise liquid formed at the bottom of one of them, having a unique appearance. As for the second cavern, it is not so beautiful - its cavity is painted with a light gray tint, which in appearance resembles ordinary dirt.
In principle, it is still possible to extract gas in these two areas, but it will be quite difficult. However, not far from the same fire crater there are several mothballed wells, the development of which is planned for the near future.
Darvaza - The Darvaza well (Turkmen Derweze from the Persian “دروازه” [darvaza] - “gate”) is a gas crater in Turkmenistan. Local residents and travelers call it the “Door to the Underworld”, or the “Gate of Hell” in Turkmen. jähenneme açylan gapy). It is located 90 km from the village of Erbent. Approximate parameters of the crater: diameter - 60 meters; depth: - 20 meters.
In 1971, near the village of Darvaza in Turkmenistan, Soviet geologists discovered an accumulation of underground gas. As a result of drilling an exploratory well, geologists stumbled upon an underground cavern (void), which caused the ground to cave in and create a large hole filled with gas. The drilling rig with all its equipment and vehicles fell into the resulting hole; no people were injured in this incident. To prevent gases harmful to people and livestock from escaping, they decided to set them on fire. Geologists assumed that the fire would go out in a few days, but they were wrong. Since 1971, natural gas escaping from the crater has been continuously burning day and night.
Nothing once inside can get out. Any Living being doomed. Once in the afterlife through these “doors”, no one can get out. A crater 60 meters in diameter and 20 meters deep, humming and bursting with hot air. Gas comes from underground, splitting into hundreds of burning torches of different sizes. In some torches, the flames reach 10-15 meters in height. The village of Darvaza was demolished in 2004.
In the center of the Karakum Desert (Turkmenistan), not far from a disappeared village called Darvaza, there is a sinkhole about one hundred meters in diameter and more than twenty meters deep called the “door to Hell.”
Inside this well, which has been burning for decades, the fire seems endless.
The Darvaza well is not a natural phenomenon, but the result of an unsuccessful analysis of Soviet geological exploration data in the 50s.
In 1971, drilling caused the collapse of an underground cavity, which opened a gaping hole with the release of a huge volume of gas.
Geologists decided to set fire to the well to prevent the release of toxic gases.
Soviet geologists grossly underestimated the size of the cavity: gas that should have burned in a few weeks has actually been burning non-stop since 1971!
It is unknown how long the “door to Hell” will burn. Despite the fact that the Darvaza well is located in an inaccessible area, many people gather there to watch the mesmerizing spectacle.
The intense heat emanating from the funnel, due to the unbearable temperature, allows you to approach the place only for a few minutes.
Not far from the burning crater there are two more similar failures of a similar origin. These craters do not burn; the gas pressure here is much weaker. At the bottom of one of the craters there is bubbling liquid mud of a light gray color, at the bottom of the other there is a turquoise-colored liquid.
Experts say that with the help of directional drilling from denser areas, the two deposits can be exploited. In the area with the “turquoise” lake, production is no longer possible. Not far from the fire crater there are several mothballed wells.
Video of the Darvaza well filmed in Turkmenistan near the village of Erbent.
From time to time, reports appear in yellow newspapers and on non-science fiction websites that scientists, ufologists or astronauts allegedly “found hell”: on the Sun, on the Moon, in the center of the Galaxy, in their cellar. Of course, it is impossible to believe in this hellish nonsense. It's impossible until you see it" Gates of Hell" - a burning crater in the middle of the desert in Turkmenistan. If somewhere in the world there is a gate to the underworld, then it is there, in Darvaze.
The name "Darvaza" itself means " gates", and this is completely connected amazing story. The fact is that this is not the name of the crater itself, but of the village closest to it. And when she received it, there were no gates of hell nearby yet. They appeared, like all the most terrible and beautiful things in the world, thanks to human intervention. In the early 70s, geologists discovered promising gas field(they are not uncommon in Turkmenistan at all). Drilling and production began, but during the work, geologists stumbled upon a “surprise”: an underground cave. A drilling rig, equipment and vehicles fell into it, but, fortunately, there were no casualties.
Sure enough, natural gas began flowing from the hole in the ground. To prevent local residents from being poisoned by harmful compounds, it was decided to set this gas on fire in the hope that it would soon burn out and go out. As you understand, the crater has not gone out yet, and is not even going out. The width of the crater is 60 meters, depth - 20 . An ominous bright flame sticks out its “fingers” from it both day and night - but if during the day it somehow doesn’t touch, then in the dark “ Gates of Hell" show themselves in all their glory: the cavern looks as if it had come out in flesh and color from a medieval engraving.
Thousands of tourists come to see the entrance to the underworld: their interest is fueled by the as yet unfulfilled decree of the new president of Turkmenistan on the need to fill up the fiery pit. Even earlier, in 2004, by order of Turkmenbashi, the village of Darvaza was demolished. Maybe this is some kind of evil fate?
