Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, Turkmenistan’s president announced on Saturday that he wants to extinguish the ‘gateway to hell’. Gateway to hell or Darvaza gas crater is one of the most well-known tourist attractions in Turkmenistan as well as all over Central Asia.
Gurbanguly came on television to express his concern over the amount of environmental damage the ever-burning gas crater is doing. The natural gas fire not just directly affects the environment but indirectly affects people and their health too. His next concern was how valuable natural resources are going to waste.
According to him, putting a stop to the waste of precious natural resources can help the country in its path to development. They can use the resources going to waste for the well-being of citizens instead. His motives are right but closing down the gas crater is not an easy task. In addition to this fact, Gurbanguly has always been in support of extinguishing the massive 60 meters wide and 20 meters deep gateway to hell.
Back in 2010, he tried for the first time and ordered officials for the same. Although the effort was in vain as the crater remained unaffected. Later in 2019, Gurbanguly decided to speed around the Gateway to Hell using an off-road truck. His purpose was to show reality to the masses behind television screens.
The history of the giant gas crater goes back to 1971 when Soviet geologists hit a natural gas cavern in the large Karakum desert. Without even realizing it, geologists accidentally ended up collapsing it. Their focus immediately moved to prevent the natural gas’s spread so they inaccurately started a fire. The researchers at that time believed it would extinguish for a maximum of a week or so but the truth is often disappointing.
However, there is certainly suspicion around the existence of the crater. There are multiple theories and doubts regarding the Karakum crater yet the Soviet geologist’s one remains the most accurate of them all. 160 miles away north of the Turkmen capital, Ashgabat, the gas crater is still burning and over decades people have named it as “Gateway to Hell” due to its inferno nature. Nevertheless, there have been attempts to change its name to “Shining of Karakum” as well. In 2018, the president officially named the crater Shining of Karakum.