Turkmenistan's President has called for the abolition of one of the country's most famous yet terrible sights - the burning natural gas crater dubbed the "Gates of Hell."

The Karakum Desert crater, located approximately 260 kilometers north of the capital, Ashgabat, has been burning for decades and is a popular attraction for few tourists who obtain visas.

Turkmenportal, a Turkmen news website, reported that the crater, around 60 meters in diameter and 20 meters deep, was caused in 1971 by a gas-drilling collapse. Geologists ignited a fire to keep the gas from spreading, anticipating that the methane would burn off within a few weeks.

The stunning if unpleasant fire that has raged ever since has become so well-known that state television in 2019 showed President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov racing around it in an off-road pickup.

However, Berdymukhamedov has directed his government to investigate measures to extinguish the fire, which is inflicting ecological harm and affecting the health of residents, according to state daily Neitralny Turkmenistan on Sunday AEDT. According to The Washington Post, he also directed experts to attempt to extinguish the flames in 2010, but to no avail.