People visit “The Gateway to Hell,” a huge burning gas crater
in the heart of Turkmenistan’s Karakum desert, on May 3, 2014. The fiery
pit was the result of a simple miscalculation by Soviet scientists in
1971 after their boring equipment suddenly drilled through into an
underground cavern and a deep sinkhole formed. Fearing that the crater
would emit poisonous gases, the scientists took the decision to set it
alight, thinking that the gas would burn out quickly and this would
cause the flames to go out. But the flames have not gone out in more
than 40 years, in a potent symbol of the vast gas reserves of
Turkmenistan, which are believed to be the fourth largest in the world.
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