Gates of hell (9 photos)

Darwaz - mysterious and strange place in Turkmenistan. Imagine a circle desert and suddenly among the sand crater from which escapes the flames. The origin of this fascinating spectacle rather prosaically: in 1971 there were drilling an exploration well on the gas and ran into an underground cavern. Drilling rig with all the equipment and transport failed "to hell." People, thank God, were not injured. Of man-made crater went natural gas. To stop poisoning people and livestock, burned gas. Since then, here for 35 years, ever-burning torches burn. How many have since burned down millions (billions) cubic meters of valuable natural resources, no one knows. But the spectacle agree that amazing. Not for nothing that travelers call it "the door to the underworld»