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Coordinates: 40°15′09.48″N 58°26′21.93″E / 40.2526333°N 58.4394250°E

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Derweze Derweze go, Дарваза (in Russian)
Derweze Location in Turkmenistan
Coordinates: 40°15′09.48″N 58°26′21.93″E / 40.2526333°N 58.4394250°E / 40.2526333; 58.4394250
Country	Turkmenistan
Province	Ahal Province
District	Ak bugdaý District
Population (1989 census)
• Total	1,683

Darvaza (from Persian: دروازه, Turkmen: Derweze) is a rural council (village council) in Ak bugdaý District, Ahal Province, Turkmenistan of about 2 thousand inhabitants, located in the middle of the Karakum Desert, about 260 km north of Ashgabat. The rural council consists of three separate villages: Derweze (formerly Aeroport) (the administrative center), Ataguýy, and Böri.^[1]

Darvaza's inhabitants are mostly Turkmen of the Teke tribe, preserving a semi-nomadic lifestyle. In 2004 the village was disbanded following the order of the President of Turkmenistan, Saparmurat Niyazov, because "it was an unpleasant sight for tourists."^{[citation needed]} The village was reestablished, by the renaming of "Aeroport" village to Derweze on 28 April 2016.^[2]

Transportation

The Darvaza area is served by the Ashgabat-Dashoguz Automobile Highway and the Içoguz station on the Trans-Karakum Railway. A landing strip for small cargo aircraft is located at the village of Derweze.^[3]

Darvaza gas crater

The Darvaza area is rich in natural gas. While drilling in 1971, Soviet geologists tapped into a cavern filled with natural gas.^[4]^[5] The ground beneath the drilling rig collapsed, leaving a large hole with a diameter of 70 metres (230 ft) at 40°15′10″N 58°26′22″E / 40.25264°N 58.43941°E / 40.25264; 58.43941 (The Gates of Hell). The fire may have originated from a local Soviet decision to avoid poisonous gas discharge, by burning off the gas,^[6]^[7] and while geologists had hoped the fire would consume the fuel in a few days, the gas is still burning fifty years later.