Locals Report Two Methane Explosions In Yamal Region Of Siberia: Smoke, Flames, "The Hill Vanished"
Two mysterious gaping holes have recently emerged in the frosty land of Siberia, accompanied by a "loud explosion-like bang" and a billowing plume of smoke and fire. Scientists were lured to the area after a local reindeer herder reported a huge boom, a tower of fire, and black clouds of smoke in depths of Russia’s Yamal Peninsula in the Article Circle, the Siberian Times reports.
One of the holes is believed to have exploded at the beginning of this year and the other was on the morning of 28 June. The second bang was so loud it was picked up by seismic stations located in neighboring settlements and near a local gas field. The new hole is approximately eight meters (26 feet) in diameter and at least 20 meters (65 feet) deep.
“It happened some 35 to 40 kilometers [21 to 24 miles] northwest of Seyakha. Reindeer herder Yakov Vengo has a camp there,” fellow reindeer herder Mikhail Okotetto told local news, according to the Siberian Times. “There was a hill not far from the camp, and it exploded. There was fire, smoke and huge chunks of soil 'flying out' of the epicenter. “ “The hill has vanished.”
Due to the explosive circumstances, the local scientists are treating this as a methane gas explosion. Many regions of the Arctic have methane locked within their permafrost. The thawing of this permafrost - often from natural cases, sometimes by exacerbated human-made process - causes this gas to “seep out.” If underground, it can cause a pressure build-up and eventually result in a pop and a bang. In this instance, it isn't clear how the fire was involved, although is methane is flammable.
EDIT
http://www.iflscience.com/environment/two-massive-new-holes-have-exploded-open-in-siberia/
Scientists have located two fresh craters formed on Yamal peninsula this year, with the latest exploding on 28 June with the eruption picked up by new seismic sensors specifically designed to monitor such events, The Siberian Times can disclose.
First pictures of the large craters - or funnels as experts call them - are shown here, and add to four other big holes found in recent years and examined by experts, plus dozens of tiny ones spotted by satellite.
The formation of both craters involved an explosion followed by fire, evidently signs of the eruption of methane gas pockets under the Yamal surface. People in Seyakha village heard a 'loud explosion-like bang' then saw a fire and clouds of black smoke, according to reports.
Deputy director of the Oil and Gas Research Institute, Moscow, Professor Vasily Bogoyavlensky said: 'We heard the news (about the new crater) from a friend who saw a flame of fire and then a rising pillar of smoke.' The head of Seyakha village, Igor Okotetto, confirmed he gad been told about the explosion.
EDIT
http://siberiantimes.com/other/others/news/big-bang-and-pillar-of-fire-as-latest-of-two-new-craters-forms-this-week-in-arctic/