Turkmenistan: President orders closure of 'gates of hell'
Turkmenistan President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov has ordered that the gateway to hell be extinguished in the country.
To the north of Turkmenistan is a large crater called the 'Gateway to Hell'.
The Karakum Desert covers 70% of Turkmenistan. To the north of this desert, which covers an area of 350,000 square kilometers, is a large crater called Gate Crater.
President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov wants his move to be seen as an attempt to boost gas exports, for environmental and health reasons as well.
In a televised message, President Qurban Qali said: "We are losing important natural resources that could have been very useful to us. ''We could use them to improve the lives of our people.''
He has ordered authorities to,''find a way to put out the fire.''
However, this is not the first time that Turkmenistan has been trying to extinguish the fire at the gates of hell. Earlier in 2010, the President had asked the experts to find ways to put out the fire.
The 69-meter-wide and 30-meter-deep pit has been on fire for decades, but not because of a 'devil' but because of its natural gas (methane).
When was this pit made?
Many believe that in 1971 Soviet geologists were exploring for crude oil in the Karakoram Desert. Here they found natural gas reserves in one place but during the search the land there sank and three big pits were formed there.
There was a risk of methane emissions from these pits, which could dissolve in the atmosphere.
''According to one theory, geologists set fire to one of them to stop it.'' He thought that in a few weeks the methane would run out and the fire would go out automatically.
But George Corones, a Canadian tourist, said he could not find any evidence to support the story.
A team arrived in the Turkmen region in 2013 during a program for the National Geographic Channel. George Corones was a member of that team. They went there to find out when the 'constant burning' fire in the pit actually started.
But his research raises more questions than answers.
According to Turkmen geologists, the crater was originally formed in the 1960s, but caught fire in the 1980s.
'Confidentiality'
Historian Geronim Perovic says that the mystery about the "gates of hell" is completely logical.
Geronim told,"This is an indication of how things worked out in the Soviet era. At the time, only information about campaigns that were successful was made public, but plans that failed were not disclosed. If the locals have done something wrong, they do not want others to know about it.
This pit of fire which arose in the middle of the desert, there was no fear of loss of life and property and its effect was negligible.
Experts believe that at that time the Soviet Union had no shortage of natural gas or fuel, producing 700,000 cubic meters of natural gas each year. In that case, it is possible that burning gas would be a viable option for them.
He said,''A country like Switzerland used 15,000 to 16,000 cubic meters of natural gas each year, but burning it four times was not a big deal for the Soviet Union.'' Instead of rationally moving it through the pipeline, they would have decided to burn it. They would have to do a lot of construction work here to divert natural gas.
"Leaving methane uncontrolled in the atmosphere is a bad idea and the decision to burn it is understandable," said Stephen Green, a microbiologist on Corones' research team.
"It simply came to our notice then. ''As long as the fire continues, methane gas cannot accumulate in one place, otherwise there would be a risk of a major explosion from time to time.''
It is true that the release of carbon dioxide gas into the atmosphere is harmful, but the release of methane gas into the atmosphere is even more harmful. Many countries, such as Iraq, Iran and the United States, burn it instead of releasing it into the air.
"Unfortunately this is a problem for which no solution has yet been found," said Jerome Perovic.
Many people go to see the fire
The citadel is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Turkmenistan.
"We are losing our precious natural resources that we can take advantage of," the Turkmen president said in a televised interview. At the same time, they can be used for the good of their people.
He directed the authorities to take effective measures to control the fire.
However, several attempts have been made to put out the fire before. Earlier in 2010, the president had also ordered experts to find ways to put out the fire.
However, since then, in 2018, the President has officially changed its name to 'Shining of Karakoom'.
This methane-spreading pit has become one of the largest tourist destinations in the country, with about 6,000 tourists each year.
In the Karakoram Desert, this crater is visible even at night, and many tourists visit it.