Turkmenistan Plans ‘Gateway to Hell’ Closure

The prospect of a “Gateway to Hell” closure emerged multiple times in the decades since the phenomenon arrived. Now, after years of debate and prior orders to do so, Turkmenistan President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov has ordered it extinguished. He ordered his government officials to find a way to extinguish the fire; closing the country’s biggest tourist attraction along with it. 

“Gateway to Hell” creation

The crater developed by accident in 1971 when a Soviet drilling team hit a gas cavern. The accident caused the drilling rig to fall into the earth and collapse underneath it. The accident caused fumes to leak out of the chamber. The Soviets elected to burn off the gas by setting it on fire to prevent the dangerous fumes from spreading.

The pit has been ablaze ever since, and previous attempts to put it out have been unsuccessful. In 2010, Berdymukhamedov also ordered experts to find a way to put out the flames. 

The resulting crater – 70 meters (229ft) wide and 20 meters deep – is a popular tourist attraction in the ex-Soviet country. In 2018, the president officially renamed it the “Shining of Karakum.”

Berdymukhamedov’s new closure order

Turkmenistan’s strongman leader ordered a “Gateway to Hell” closure and experts to find a way to extinguish a massive five-decade-old fire. The president of the central Asian country appeared on state television on Saturday, telling officials to put out the flames at the Darvaza gas crater in the middle of the vast Karakum desert. He cited environmental and economic concerns.

“We are losing valuable natural resources for which we could get significant profits and use them for improving the well-being of our people,” the president said in televised remarks. Only time will tell if this new closure order will finally put an end to the country’s biggest tourist attraction or if the phenomenon will continue to baffle officials and burn on for a new generation of visitors.