Turkmenistan’s leader wants ‘Gates of Hell’ fire put out

Ashgabat, Jan. 9 (BNA): Turkmenistan’s president has called for an end to one of the country’s most prominent tourist attractions – a burning natural gas crater widely referred to as the “Gates of Hell”.

The desert crater, located about 260 kilometers (160 miles) north of the capital, Ashgabat, has been blazing for decades and is a popular sight for the few tourists who come to Turkmenistan, a hard-to-enter country, according to the Associated Press (AP) reported.

The Turkmenportal news website said a gas-drilling collapse in 1971 formed the crater, which is about 60 meters (190 feet) in diameter and 20 meters (70 feet) deep. To prevent the gas from spreading, geologists lit a fire, expecting the gas to burn out within a few weeks.

The spectacular, if unwelcome, fire that has since raged is so famous that state television showed President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov speedily driving around in an off-road truck in 2019.

But Berdymukhamedov has ordered his government to look for ways to put out the fire as it causes environmental damage and affects the health of people living in the region, Turkmenistan’s state newspaper, Netralny Turkmenistan, reported Saturday.

MI