This remarkable picture is the door to hell.
It shows a natural gas field in the Ahal Province in Turkmenistan. The area is called “Darvaza” which means “gate”. The gas field as been aflame since 1971. You can smell the sulfur for miles.
The fires started in 1971 when a team of Sciet scientists thought they had found oil and started to drill. The ground opened up, swallowed the rig and caught fire. No lives were lost.
In 2010 the President of Turkmenistan ordered the hole be closed and the gas protected. Easier said than done and as of 2013 the Door to Hell was still burning.
In Pure Spirit
What do you think? Can you see why the call this crater the Door to Hell?
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