A team of cavers have descended into the so-called “Well of Hell” beneath the desert in eastern Yemen for what is believed to be the first time.
Measuring approximately 100ft wide and more than 200ft deep the Well of Barhout has long terrified and shunned locals.
Yemeni officials have estimated it to be “millions and millions” of years old and for centuries, stories have circulated about the mystical figures such as jinns, or genies, living in the well.
Others believe it is the gate of hell.
Many locals are petrified to visit the well or to even talk about it, as they fear it could bring bad luck.
“Some say it is where apostates and non-believers are tortured after death,” geologist and owner of Earth Sciences Consultancy Centre Mohammad Al Kindi told The National.
“Others believe that their heads would be severed once they’re down there.”
But on 15 September, eight divers from the Oman Cave Exploration Team decided to take the plunge, only to discover snakes, dead animals and cave pearls in the depths of the hole – but no signs of the supernatural.
Footage showed cave formations and grey and lime-green cave pearls, formed by dripping water.
Mohammed al-Kindi, a geology professor at the German University of Technology in Oman, said: “Some say it is where apostates and non-believers are tortured after death. Others believe that their heads would be severed once they’re down there.
“I was the last one to climb in and the last one to leave. I spent about six hours down there.”
The caver added: “They say that Mecca’s Zamzam Well water is the holiest and purest on earth and that the water from the Well of Hell is the most evil. All we saw was pure freshwater down there. We even drank an entire bottle and nothing happened to us."
Al-Kindi, who also owns a mining and petroleum consultancy firm, said “passion” was behind the team’s effort.
“We felt that this is something that will reveal a new wonder and part of Yemeni history,” he said.
He said the team had collected samples of water, rocks, soil and some dead animals but they were yet to be analysed.
He continued: "There were dead birds, which does create some bad odours, but there was no overwhelming bad smell.”
Due to many years of folklore about the Well of Hell, some Yemenis have claimed to have entered the cave and lived to tell the tale, but al-Kindi said he saw no signs of any human activity at the bottom.
He said he hopes his team’s visit to the bottom will dispel some legends about the cave: “I believe that the Well of Hell, known as Barhout, is a legendary cave assigned to many caves in Yemen. Now that we have gone to Khasfat Foujit, the cave should not be called by any other name than the area it is in.”
