Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov has ordered experts to find a way to put out the blaze that has been raging for 50 years.
According to the AFP news agency, the crater was formed in 1971 due to an accident while searching for gas reserves in the former Soviet Union and the fire has not been extinguished since then.
Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov on Saturday instructed authorities on state TV to put out a fire in a pit in the middle of the Karakum Desert.President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov said that "this man-made pit is having a negative impact on the environment and the health of the people living around it."
"We are depleting the natural resources so that we can make a profit and improve the lives of the people," he said.
He asked the experts to find a way to put out the fire.
Many attempts have been made to extinguish this fire since 1971, but so far no attempt has been successful.
The pit is now 70 meters wide and 20 meters deep and is now a major tourist attraction.
