The Darvaza gas crater, known as the Door to Hell, blazes in Turkmenistan’s Karakum Desert near Derweze, about 260 km north of Ashgabat. Formed in 1971 when Soviet drilling pierced a gas cavern, causing a 60-70m-wide, 30m-deep sinkhole, engineers ignited the methane leak expecting a quick burn-off—it raged for over 50 years instead, releasing poisonous […]