An apocalyptic crater nicknamed the “The Door to Hell” that’s been burning for more than 40 years as filmed in an amazing drone footage.
The Darvaza crater is a 69-metre wide, 30-metre deep crater and is located in a deserted desert in Turkmenistan.
The crater was created when a group of Soviet engineers exploring for sources of natural gas saw their rig collapse creating the deep crater.
Fearing that dangerous gases will be released into the atmosphere, they set it alight in the hope it would burn off in a few weeks.
But it hasn’t stopped burning since that day in 1971, becoming a major tourist draw to the sparsely populated Derweze region of Turkmenistan.
Drone operator and photographer Alessandro Belgiojoso captured stunning, HD footage of the breath-taking sight.
He said: “The crater’s story is fascinating. The story goes that at the time of the Soviet Union, Russians heavily drilled the desert seeking natural gas in the fourth richest country in the world for natural gas reserves.
“Some miss calculation led to machinery and most probably also operating engineers falling into the ground.
“As gas poured into the atmosphere, making it impossible to live in small villages even at great distance in the desert, the best option was to light up the gas and wait until the gas field would eventually dry up.
But this didn’t happen and it has been astonishing visitors ever since.