AKIPRESS.COM - An ominous gas crater that has been burning in a Turkmenistan's desert for more than 40 years is a perfect site for boosting tourism in the country, local officials and academics say. The man-made pit, known as “the Door to Hell,” earlier faced backfill, RT reports.

Tourism may not be the strongest side of the Central Asian country’s economy, as only around 10,000 visitors come to Turkmenistan yearly, most of them from Iran, Germany and the U.S. However, local tourism officials say they found a promising tourist attraction.

Amid the arid Karakum desert, covering most of the country and known for its extreme temperature changes, one can find a huge sinister-looking pit known as Derweze or Darvaza.

The pit is filled by what seems to be a hellish fire, but is in fact an enormous blaze of natural gas coming from under the ground. No one is really sure, when the fire in the 60-meter wide, 20-meter deep crater may go out, but it is known for certain that it was started after a drilling accident in 1971.

The ground at the site collapsed when geologists were exploring a natural gas field – one of the many reserves in the gas-rich country, which used to be a Soviet republic. Fortunately, no one was injured in the incident, but fearing that poisonous gas fumes may pose a danger for the local population and animals, the geologists decided to set them on fire, thinking they will soon burn out.

They apparently miscalculated – and the gas is still burning, creating a surreal otherworldly scene.

In 2010, President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov decided that Derweze has burned enough, ordering the crater to be filled up or somehow isolated.

Four years later, however, Turkmen officials have seemingly found a better use for the infernal pit.

“The burning crater is attracting more and more interest every year, especially among foreign tourists,” an official on Turkmenistan’s state committee on tourism said.

Moreover, it is a nice attraction for eco-tourists and researchers visiting the newly-formed 90,000-hectar nature reserve in the Karakum desert, Turkmen academics believe.

Those visiting Derweze experience mixed feelings about the site.

“Foreign tourists who visit the burning crater feel mixed emotions – awe at the sight but also at the profligacy of the Turkmen people, who have simply let the gas burn for so many years,” a Turkmen travel agency employee noticed.

Others say that the site “takes your breath away.”

Thus far, getting to the crater located some 270 kilometers from the capital Ashgabat has been no easy task, but those seeking extreme thrills can hire a guide to get right to the spot. YouTube is filling up with videos of the site, which many observers film from the brink of the pit, ignoring the possibility it might collapse.