Once upon a time, sometime in the early 70’s, a bunch of geologists were working in the Karakum desert, right in the middle of mother Russia. So while digging a hole for God knows what reason, they stumbled on a huge natural gas deposit, and afraid that the substance might poison the air of the region, they had the brilliant idea of setting it on fire. The result? Check it out below.

Located near the small town of Darvaza, Turkmenistan, and named by the locals as “The Door To Hell”, this man-made hole has been burning non-stop for the past 35 years. No one really knows how many tons of gas has been burned up to now and how much of it remains, but the whole thing looks like it could keep on going for another century.

Want to see more? Here are two videos I discovered on Youtube and Dailymotion showing the crater in all its burning glory. Enjoy!

[Via Vlog (French)]