Finding a solution to extinguish a burning gas crater in Darvaza was given by President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov at a Government meeting, Turkmenportal reports.

As the President of Turkmenistan noted, a lot of gas has been burning there for many years. This condition has a negative influence on ecology and on the health of people living there. Also, consumed natural gas, from which can be obtained a profit for the prosperity of the nation.

In this regard, Deputy Prime Minister Shahym Abdrahmanov, who is in charge of the fuel and energy complex, was instructed to attract scientists, and, if necessary, foreign specialists, to find a solution to this problem.

Burning gas crater in Darvaza city, named as “The Door to Hell”, located in the middle of the Karakum Desert, approximately in 260 kilometers north of Asgabat, is one of the sights of Turkmenistan, attracting the attention of scientists and tourists.

In 1971, the Soviet geologists found an accumulation of natural gas there and set up drilling which caused a collapse, the upper layer of the soil fell into the underground cave, opened a big hole filled with gas. To avoid from poisoning of people and animals from the natural gas, the geologists decided to set it on fire, considering that the fire will subside by the time. But the natural gases escaping from the ground continue to burn to this day. The diameter of the gas hole is 60 meters, the depth is about 20 meters.

In November 2013, the famous traveler and explorer George Coronis from Canada descended to the bottom of the crater to conduct research and collect samples. He managed to find bacteria that live at the bottom of the crater at high temperatures. These bacteria are not found anywhere on the surface of the Earth and feel great living in a small ecosystem at the bottom of a hot crater.