Derweze is a small village in Turkmenistan, not far from the village, in the middle of the Karakum Desert there is a giant burning hole in the ground! This hole is called by the locals “The Door to Hell”.

Soviet geologists (back in the early 70’s) held surveys around the area when in one drilling their rig collapsed into the ground creating a 70 meter wide hole in the desert.

Since the hole was filled with poisonous and inflammable gases, they decided to light it up so the fire will consume the gas, they miscalculated and the fire is burning constantly since 1971.

For more information visit Wikipedia – Derweze

Google map of the “Door to Hell”:



View Larger Map

By Tormod Sandtorv (Flickr: Darvasa gas crater panorama) [CC BY-SA 2.0], via Wikimedia

Next 3 Photos by the talented John Bradley (Visit his site, he has awesome photos).