Huge Sinkhole in Guatemala City
Posted on March 5, 2007
CBS News reports that this giant sinkhole opened up in a neighborhood in Guatemala City a couple week ago. 3 people died in the 330-foot-deep sinkhole.
Emergency crews on Saturday found a third body in a 330-foot-deep sinkhole that had swallowed a dozen homes and forced the evacuation of nearly 1,000 people in a crowded Guatemala City neighborhood.You can see some large photographs of the sinkhole on this webpage. The webpage also says that the pit emitted "foul odors, loud noises and tremors." It is a very large and unusual looking sinkhole. The most recent article about the sinkhole says authorities are expecting the mouth of the hole to become larger and residents are leaving the area out of safety fears.The body of Domingo Soyos, 53, was carried out of the enormous fissure and identified by family members, medical crews said.
Soyos was the father of teenagers Irma and David Soyos, whose bodies were found floating in a river of sewage soon after the sinkhole opened on Friday.
Residents said there were other people unaccounted for, but emergency crews could not confirm that.
Officials blamed recent rains and an underground sewage flow from a ruptured main for the tragedy. The pit emitted foul odors, loud noises and tremors, shaking the surrounding ground. A rush of water could be heard from its depths, and authorities feared it could widen or other sinkholes could open up.