A YouTuber put his life at risk in the name of content by getting dangerously close to a “Doorway to Hell”.
Mike Corey, who is known on YouTube as @fearlessandfar is not one to shy away from a tough or terrifying challenge.
He documents his adventures on the video sharing platform where viewers can watch him explore Pablo Escobar’s abandoned drug plane in the Mexican jungle and take a dip in the Devil’s Pool in Zambia.
But one particularly terrifying feat has seen him on the edge of the Darvaza crater in order to roast marshmallows in the flames that engulf the pit.
The giant sinkhole leaks out methane gas and has been dubbed as the “Doorway to Hell”.
"The edge might collapse at any moment"
Taking his followers along for the ride, Corey films himself at the edge of the crater, holding out what appears to be a fishing rod with a marshmallow on the end of it.
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“It’s so hot,” Corey says in the clip before taking a bite of the marshmallow. “It’s perfect.”
He goes on to add: “The world’s biggest campfire makes some pretty tasty marshmallows.”
In the YouTube comment section, one user wrote: “Looks dangerous, the edge might collapse any moment and no escaping once you soak down to purgatory pit.”
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Another replied: “Well not maybe collapse, it's been burning 50 years so i guess all parts which are going to collapse has collapsed already but yeah I still wouldn't go that close to edge.”
And a third added: “I wouldn't be so sure, edges corrode all the time and therefore can collapse at any time. The fence is there for a reason, I don't get why people have to climb over it for a few nice shots. It's fine if they had special permission, but I see this all the time and it's annoying and dangerous.”
The crater, which is located in the Karakum desert in Turkmenistan, has been on fire for decades, with many believing that it was set alight on purpose by Soviet authorities.
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Another theory is that the crater was formed in 1971 and set alight immediately but others believe that the hole dates back to the 1960s and was bubbling with gas until it was lit in the 1980s.
But no one knows for sure just how the giant hole came to be set on fire.
There has been talk of extinguishing the crater but Turkmenistan authorities changed their minds and now instead use the crater as a way to promote tourism.