Gates of Hell

The Gates of Hell is pretty much as intense as it sounds. Basically, in the Karakum Desert of Turkmenistan lies a giant gaping hole that's filled with blazing fire. It all started back in 1971 when the Soviets were in Turkmenistan with a drilling rig looking for oil. The drilling rig accidentally caused the ground to collapse and it fell into an underground cavern that was filled with natural gas. Toxic fumes began to seep out of the cave and the Soviets panicked. They had no clue what to do so they just decided to light the thing on fire. The logic was that there wasn’t much gas down there and that they could just burn it all up within a short amount of time. Yeah… it did not work out that way. Half a century later, that pit is still on fire but the Turkmenistan government has recently initiated plans to put it out.

Source: www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-gates-of-hell-turkmenistan#:~:text=In%20the%20hot%2C%20expansive%20Karakum,be%20seen%20for%20miles%20around.