A flaming big hole that won't stop burning: Giant gas crater called The Door To Hell that was caused by drilling blunder and was expected to burn out after a few days…in 1971
Still smoking: The Door To Hell, a 230-feet wide crater, situated near Derweze village in Turkmenistan, has been burning since 1971

Scientists in 1971
as an area that was believed to house a substantial oil field.However, the ground beneath the
drilling rig soon collapsed, creating a wide crater that was believed to
be releasing large quantities of methane gas, a potential danger to the
nearby Turkmenistan villages. Scientists
decided that the most efficient way to solve the problem would be to
burn off the poisonous gases - by doing so, it was expected that all of
the gas in the crater would be burnt off within days. More than four decades later, though, the crater is still ablaze - and hundreds of tourists flock to visit it every year.
The Karakum Desert,
where Derweze is located, has one of the largest gas reserves in the
world. Turkmenistan hopes to up its exportation rate around 75 million
cubic meters of gas in the next 20 years.
Will Keeping, a retiree from Buchlyvie, near Stirling, visited the crater last month.
Will
said:"During daylight, I was initially not impressed as it looked like
a hole in a vast desert. As we got nearer and the glow from inside the
carter became evident, though, I started to notice the size of the
crater and wondered how could continually glow like that.
'As I approached on foot, it became clear that this was a large crater and that inside was like a huge open furnace. 'As the sun began to set, the location slowly transformed from a large, isolated furnace in the middle of the desert into the center of attention that dominated the surrounding area - the glow became more intense and lit up the area including the sky above.
'It was impossible not to be drawn to the crater, something that was just dominant over the surrounding area."
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