Bermuda Triangle mystery solved? Siberia's 'End of the World' craters could explain

Siberia: The mystery of Bermuda Triangle has confounded the world for generations — a torrid stretch of ocean where aircraft and ships have simply vanished into thin air.

Now, a new report suggests that the equally mysterious Siberian sinkholes that appeared earlier this year could be linked to the Bermuda Triangle. The three craters — one in Taymyr peninsula and two in Yamal —are believed to have been caused by huge underground gas explosions.

Andrei Plekhanov, a senior researcher at the Scientific Research Centre of the Arctic,
stands beside the sinkhole discovered in the Yamal peninsula in Russia's far northern
state of Siberia. "I've never seen such craters anywhere on Yamal, where I've been,"
explains Andrei. "And I've never heard my colleagues talk of anything similar. (Photo: AP)

Known to locals as the “end of the world”, the massive craters sparked endless theories about how they got there. Some claimed they were caused by missiles or a man-made hoax — some even claimed it was a case of alien invaders.

But scientists from the Trofimuk Institute of Petroleum-Gas Geology and Geophysics in Novosibirsk believe that they are the result of large underground gas explosions.

The second crater, discovered in the Yamal Peninsula, has a diameter
of 15 metres. (Picture: YouTube)

So how is this connected to the much-disputed Bermuda Triangle?

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Researchers are now suggesting that methane hydrates could be responsible for the disappearances of ships and aircraft, according to The Siberian Times, which cited a report in Science in Siberia, a weekly publication of the Siberian branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

The third crater in Taymyr Peninsula. (Google Maps, Nosok residents)

Scientist Vladimir Potapov said the main element to explain the Yamal crater was a release of gas hydrates. “It turned out that there are gas hydrates both in the deep layer which on peninsula is several hundred metres down, and on the layer close to the surface,” he said.

Igor Yeltsov, the Trofimuk Institute’s deputy head, said there was a theory that the Bermuda Triangle is caused by gas hydrates, which in turn caused “an extremely turbulent atmosphere”.

“They start to actively decompose with methane ice turning into gas. It happens in an avalanche-like way, like a nuclear reaction, producing huge amounts of gas. That makes the ocean heat up, and ships sink in waters which are infused with huge amounts of gas. This leads to the air becoming supersaturated with methane, creating an extremely turbulent atmosphere, leading to aircraft crashes”.

The Bermuda Triangle is a region some people say exists in the North Atlantic Ocean between Bermuda, Florida and Puerto Rico — others have dismissed it as a myth.

Into thin air the pilots and crew of Torpedo Bomber 28 went missing In June 1945,
some believe they vanished in the Bermuda Triangle. (Photo: AP)

Reporting the claims, the journal Science in Siberia dubbed the craters “a distant relative of the Bermuda Triangle”.

‘We checked magnetic and radiation backgrounds, and found no abnormalities there,’ said Oleg Kushnarenko, chief engineer of a mission which lasted four days. Mr Potapov said that their theory will be studied further.

‘We all have to keep suggesting hypotheses and testing them,’ he said. ‘The crater itself is incredibly interesting from a scientific point of view'. But regardless of whether the Bermuda Triangle exists, the idea that methane release could sink ships holds some water, scientists say.

Watch Video: Mysterious giant crater discovered at 'world's end' in Siberia