President of Turkmenistan, Gurbanguli BerdymukhamedovHe said over the weekend that he wanted to end the famous natural gas crater that had been burning in the country for decades.
“The crater is adversely affecting the environment and the health of people in the vicinity,” Berdymukhamedov said in a televised address on Saturday.
Known as the “Gateway to Hell”, this place is a traditional tourist destination with a diameter of 70 meters.
The crater can be seen from a distance, especially at night – Photo: Igor Sasin / AFP
In his decision to put out the fire, the Turkmen president raised environmental and economic issues and called on the government to find safer ways to put out the fire.
“We are losing valuable natural resources so that we can make significant profits and use them to improve the well-being of our people,” he said.
The region is rich in oil and natural gas. The “fire” began in 1971 when geologists from the former Soviet Union dug into the area to obtain gas. The floor below the platform was lubricated and the hole opened.
The hole appeared in 1971 after the work of geologists from the former Soviet Union who set the gas on fire (Photo: Igor Sasin / AFP)
The volcano was the result of simple calculations made by Soviet scientists in 1971.
Fearing that the crater would emit toxic gases, the scientists decided to set it on fire, believing that the gas would burn quickly. But for more than 50 years the flames have not been extinguished, becoming a powerful symbol of the world’s vast gas reserves. Turkmenistan. In the meantime, visitors are flocking there to see this phenomenon up close.
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