A team of researchers descended into the so-called “hell pit”, located in the middle of the desert of Yemen. It’s a crater 20 meters wide and a hundred deep, that has awakened countless stories..
The investigation focused on the first documented descent into the well. Because of superstition or fear, the people of the place always refused to go inside, until an expedition of the Oman Caverns Exploration Team (OCET), a country neighboring Yemen, was organized.
what did you find? Snakes, dead animals and pearls. “There were snakes, but they won’t bother you unless you bother them,” said Mohammed Al Kindi, a professor of geology at the German University of Technology in Amman.
In all, eight speleologists (the science that researches caves) made the landing, while two other researchers made the observation from the surface. “The passion drove us to do this, and we feel it is something that will reveal new wonders and a part of Yemen’s history.”. “We collected samples of water, rocks, soil and some dead animals, but we haven’t analyzed them yet,” the expert said, adding that “there was no bad smell, only the smell of some dead birds.”
A hypothesis about the origin of the “Hell Well”
The Yemeni authorities themselves confirmed that they did not know what was inside the well and that they were able at most to go down to 60 metres. One theory suggests that it could be a volcano, although there is no evidence to support this hypothesis. Others claim that it could be bingo, a geological phenomenon that has been discovered in Russia in recent years.
However, Chris Fogwell, professor of glaciology and paleoclimatology at Keele University, argues that it is a crater caused by erosion of limestone or brines.
For the people of Al-Mahra Governorate, it is a “prison for demons”, and the foul odor emanating from its interior is a sign of this. is the “mouth of hell”. They believe that visiting the hole and just mentioning it can bring bad luck.