Is this the gate way to hell? - Inside giant hole in the desert has now been on fire for more than 40 YEARS [VIDEO & PHOTOS]

The hole (top left and top right) in the heart of the Karakum Desert was created in 1971 when a drilling rig used by Soviet geologists collapsed. 

The team decided to burn off poisonous gases inside the crater but the fire, which they believed would be out within days, is still going (bottom right). Visitors stand at the edge of the hole (bottom left) in Derweze, Turkmenistan, to watch the flames.



The flames generate a golden glow which can be seen for miles around Derweze, a village with a population of about 350.
The site is about 260 kilometres north of Ashgabat, the capital of Turkmenistan.
In April 2010 the country's president, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, visited the site and ordered that the hole should be closed but this is yet to happen.
The Karakum Desert, which covers much of Turkmenistan, lies east of the Caspian Sea.
The Aral Sea is located to the north and the Amu Darya river and the Kyzyl Kum Desert lie to the north-east.
The area has significant oil and natural gas deposits.

VIDEO............