(ANSA) - ROME, JAN 08 - The president of Turkmenistan has ordered that the flames, fueled by natural gas, which have been burning for over 50 years in a remote crater in the Karakum desert, be extinguished, which the common vulgate attributes to a drilling error dating back to 1971 , in the Soviet era.
The Darvaza crater, which over the decades has become a destination for few tourists who visit the Central Asian republic, has been dubbed the "Gate of Hell" due to the apparently inextinguishable fire.
The Turkmen president, Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, has ordered that a solution be found to extinguish the spectacular phenomenon, after some unsuccessful attempts starting from 2010. The request is dictated by environmental, health and protection reasons for the natural gas fields of the former Soviet country: "We are losing precious resources from which we could draw substantial profits to be used for the well-being of the population", said the president of television.
The crater was thoroughly inspected in 2013 by Canadian explorer George Kourounis, who could not find the cause. While many believe this to be a 1971 drilling error, some are inclined to believe that the crater formed in the 1960s and that the flames did not ignite until the 1960s.80. (ANSA).