Mysterious flames erupt from earth

This is pretty interesting.

A man was digging a hole to bury some trash, and found smoke and flames coming out of the ground.

Is this from some type of volcanic activity, something under the ground on fire, a hoax and someone dug a hole and started a fire, or something else?

This seems to have caused enough of a stir to have police and army personnel deployed to the site.

Anyone have any ideas about this?...It could be something easily explainable, but seems a little odd.

www.adaderana.lk...

A large crowd flocked to see flames and smoke which mysteriously appeared from a hole dug up in Turai Adi in Kinniya today (May 04). Abdul Kader Farook, who lives near Kinniya Bridge, was digging a hole near his home to dump garbage had noticed flames and smoke coming out of the earth. He had subsequently contacted the police regarding the incident. Police and army personnel were deployed to the location to control the crowds after a tense situation had ensued.

It does look a little like lava in the pictures, or perhaps molten metal, but I really have no idea.

en.wikipedia.org...

It could be a chemical reaction with moisture in the air.

2nd.

Perhaps it's an underground coal fire similar to Centralia, Pennsylvania which has been burning since 1962.

maybe too much buried garbage in the area smoldering, and when the air hit it...poof

reply to post by isyeye

Too funny. What is the Sri Lankan word for Luau?

The huge tension arose when they couldn't decide how to divide up the pig.

I don't know really, just musing...

Most fire fighters will tell you about under ground fires. It burns through the roots and buried leaf clutter. Its why most nat parks dont like you to dig a fire pit.

I wouder if it is that.

Just when you thought it was safe to dig a hole in your owe back yard. This can not be more than a foot or so down. That is a bit scary. Will have to watch this.

reply to post by goochball



you beat me to it....that was my first thought...a coal fire and they could burn for tens of years.

Nothin too spectacular.

Check this out FYI

Burning Mountain, the common name for Mount Wingen, is a hill near Wingen, New South Wales, Australia, approximately 224 kilometres (139 mi) north of Sydney just off the New England Highway.[2] It takes its name from a smouldering coal seam running underground through the sandstone. Burning Mountain is contained within the Burning Mountain Nature Reserve, which is administered by the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS).[3][4] A trail runs from the Park carpark to the site where smoke emanates from the ground and includes information panels. The scientific estimate is that the fire has burned for approximately 6,000 years and is the oldest known coal fire.[5] Original explorers and settlers to the area believed that the smoke coming from the ground was volcanic in origin. The fire is moving in a generally southerly direction at a rate of about one metre per year.

en.wikipedia.org...

This video looks like it may have been shot before the hole was dug deeper.



Here's another video of the fire:



One more:

reply to post by Snakedoctorjw
I am a professional firefighter.( 30+ years) this does not look like a muck fire, root fire or any other under ground fire i have seen.
It reminds me of what a flare looks like when it burning. Especially a signal flare like used in a maritime rocket flare. I've played around with those a little,
But what this is............I don't know

reply to post by isyeye
on closer observation,especially the last video, this is looking a lot like a signal flare, Not a road flare reason being a signal flare burns hotter and brighter and puts out a lot of white smoke, like whats coming out of the hole.

Possible 'splaination................signal flare prank

I'm gonna go with a coal fire. Has there been any mining in the area in the past?

It's not going to be lava flow, because it's too close to the surface and the pressure would presumably be high enough for this to be a known problem in the area. That's not the kind of thing that just appears digging a hole.

My other thought was that he says he was going to bury rubbish. So presumably this is a common ground for doing that. If that rubbish has built up over time this could be gas escaping.

I don't think it's particularly uncommon for landfill sites to have fires like this when the build up of gas ignites.

ancient sumerian text talk about asphalt pools getting uncovered

1st thing that popped into my mind was White Phosphorus. But why would it be buried under a village in India?

And why do they keep making the hole bigger?

Another possibility is a Peat fire. But this doesn't look like a peat fire. Peat fires normally happen near areas that are close to ,lowlands, swamps, bogs, etc. where many layers of peat overlap. The area where the fire is doesn't look like it would be a peat area.

It could be a calcium carbide deposit that got wet when it was dug up and ignited.

Edit:
Nevermind, I always thought carbide was mined rather than manufactured...

That does look like a strange place to bury garbage.

Ok, I think we are being clowned. In lieu of that I bring you the real door to hell...

Originally posted by zayonara
That does look like a strange place to bury garbage.

Not for those people. It is a wonder he did not bury garbage in the house