#1 The Gates Of Hell – Turkmenistan

In 1971, a Soviet drilling rig accidentally drilled into a massive underground natural gas cavern which caused the ground to collapse.  The entire drilling rig fell into the sink hole and poisonous fumes began leaking from the ground. To head off a potential deadly catastrophe, the Soviets set the hole aflame.  That was in 1971.  This man made disaster in the deserts of has been burning for 40 years.  The whole is 328 ft. wide that has been on fire continuously for the duration.

#2 Tenerife airport disaster (March 27, 1977) was probably one of the worst aviation disasters ever seen which was a culmination of a series of unfortunate reasons including terrorism , bad weather, mechanical failure, air traffic control miscommunication and pilot error. It involved collision of two Boeings (747) on the airport runway, one of which was a Pan Am jet and the other being a KLM flight. The worst accident in aviation history occurred when two Boeing 747 aircraft – Pan Am Flight 1736 and KLM Flight 4805 – collided on the runway of a Tenerife airport. Essentially, the KLM proceeded with a takeoff from the airport’s only runway without permission, colliding straight into the Pam Am aircraft that was taxiing along the same runway. Conditions were foggy, so it was hard to maintain a visual from either of the aircraft and there was also confusion over various radio instructions. This accident resulted in the deaths of 583 people, the highest death toll in any Air craft related mishap excluding the terrorist attacks on the US on September 11.