Village of fire: How methane gas seeping out of the ground means that Chinese farmers working in the field can’t risk even a single spark from a tool in case the air bursts into flames



Nanjiawan village in China has been dubbed the 'Invisible Fire Village'

Lighting a cigarette or starting electrical equipment can be hazardous

Locals called in priests at first believing they had been cursed by evil spirits



Methane gas is coming up from the ground in a village in China causing the air to burst into balls of fire.



The phenomenon is now so common that Nanjiawan village in south-west China has been dubbed the 'Invisible Fire Village'.

Lighting a cigarette or starting electrical equipment can have disastrous consequences.

Dangerous: Methane gas is coming up from the ground in a village in China causing the air to burst into fire

Superstitious locals called in priests at first believing they had been cursed by evil spirits.

After that failed to drive away the methane gas explosions some of the more enterprising villagers dug tunnels under their homes and used the gas to create basic underfloor heating systems.

The gas was discovered less than a year ago when Su Geng, 83, reported to authorities a strange smell coming from her cellar.

She said: 'They told me after doing a test that there was methane leaking out of the ground. They set fire to the air to prove it to me.'

Villagers need to be careful when working in the fields because even a single spark from a metal farming tool striking a stone can cause the air to literally burst into flames

The phenomenon is so common now that Nanjiawan village in south-west China is known by its nickname 'Invisible Fire Village'

Some of the more creative villagers dug tunnels under their homes and used the gas to create basic underfloor heating systems

Methane secreting from the ground occurs in many places around the world.

On one hillside on Turkey's Mediterranean coast fires have been burning for thousands of years.

However, families in China are afraid that the 'Invisible Fire' will one day burn out of control and lead to deaths.



Putting it out: Superstitious locals called in priests at first believing they had been cursed by evil spirits

Lighting a cigarette or starting electrical equipment can have disastrous consequences

The gas was discovered less than a year ago when an 83-year-old woman noticed a strange smell coming from her cellar

A police spokesman said: 'It doesn't matter how often they are told that it is an explainable natural phenomenon, there are many who view it as a sinister thing and insist that it evil spirits and other hocus pocus is at play.

'In fact the most logical explanation is staring them in the face every day. There is a natural gas mine not far from the village.

