The country's leader has directed that the Darvanza Crater - also known as the 'Gates of Hell' that has been spewing methane for more than 50 years - be put out of commission.
According to Mirror, despite blazing temperatures of over 1,000 C, samples retrieved from the bottom of the crater revealed the presence of a rare type of bacterium, leaving experts perplexed.
It is unclear exactly how the crater was generated because of how secretive the nation is.
The Door to Hell, a burning natural gas field in Derweze, Turkmenistan. It´s actually bigger than it looks. Three 17 mm shots stitched together.
Gates of Hell to Be Closed, Nobody Knows When
In an earlier report this year, CNN said President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov ordered the closure of the "Gates of Hell" called Darvaza Crater.
CNN, citing the state-run daily Neytralny Turkmenistan, reported that Berdymukhamedov requested the government to find a method to shut the metaphorical gates despite the crater becoming a popular tourist destination.
The renowned fire was put out for several reasons, including potential harm to the health of local residents, resource waste, and environmental harm.
The deputy prime minister of Turkmenistan "was instructed to gather scientists, and if necessary, to attract foreign consultants and find a solution for extinguishing the fire."
One of the nation's main sources of income is natural gas, which is located in central Asia.
There is no target date as to when they will shut down Darvaza Crater or extinguish the fire.
History of Gates of Hell
A vast area of sand dunes burnt by the sun, the Karakum Desert takes up around 70 percent of Turkmenistan.
According to BBC News, a person may spend days wandering across these dry badlands of 350,000 square kilometers and only observe the unending crests and valleys of the Karakum's desolate landscape.
However, if they travel to the north-central plain of the desert, they can come upon a really bizarre sight - the Darvaza Crater.
Darvaza Crater is a molten gas pit known as "The Gates of Hell" that has been spouting fire for decades. According to legend, Soviet geologists struck a pocket of natural gas in 1971 while drilling for oil in the desert.
Three sizable sinkholes were created as a result of the Earth's collapse.
Geologists allegedly set one of them on fire, expecting it would burn out in a couple of weeks, to stop the methane from seeping into the sky.
However, during the first mission to examine the crater's depths in 2013, led by Canadian explorer George Kourounis, he learned that no one genuinely understands how this ferocious inferno came to be.
According to local Turkmen geologists, the gaping 69 meters wide and 30 meters deep crater emerged in the 1960s but wasn't illuminated until the 1980s.
Since gas and oil were coveted commodities in Turkmenistan during the Soviet authority, it seems that any knowledge about the crater's genesis is now hidden and classified.
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