Today, the fault measures around a kilometer in length, 800 meters in width and 100 meters in depth, making it the largest permafrost thermokarst sinkhole in the world. Its shape is reminiscent of a gigantic mollusc with a tail.

Most of the blazes are in a region that saw possibly the hottest-ever temperature above the Arctic Circle this month.

The fires are now raging some 10 to 15 kilometers from the megaslump crater - a large hole in the frozen Arctic soil which highlights the dramatic speed of thawing permafrost.