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May 2013

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Darvaz – a mysterious and strange place in Turkmenistan. Just imagine: sand desert all around, suddenly, a crater appears breathing flame. The origin of this captivate sight is quite prosaic: during the exploration stage in 1971 a well was drilled there prospecting gas and the drilling have encountered an underground cavity. The drilling rig with all its equipment and transport fell down into “Tartarus”. No one of the drilling crew was injured. A natural was encountered from a man-caused crater. The gas had to be burned not to poison people and life stock. It has been 35 years now since the gas from the crater was first flared. No one knows how much (million or billion m3) of this most valuable natural raw product burned for nothing, but the view of it, admit it, is stunning. Not in vain the travelers called this crater a “door to hell”.