Story By: Lee Bullen, Sub-Editor: Marija Stojkoska, Agency: Newsflash
This is the moment a huge sinkhole appears on a farm in central Mexico.
The sinkhole was filmed on farmland in the rural region of Santa Maria Zacatepec in the Mexican state of Puebla, and the local Civil Protection authority has urged residents to not approach the area to prevent any possible accidents.
The sinkhole is reportedly around 100 metres (328 feet) in diameter and 20 metres (66 feet) deep.
State governor Miguel Barbosa Huerta said on Monday that a family has been evacuated from the area and is currently being accommodated elsewhere.
Regional environment secretary Beatriz Manrique said that the sinkhole started off about five metres in diameter and grew over the following few hours.
Manrique added: “We believe there may be two explanations for the incident, the softening of the farmland as the entire area was cultivated, and the removal of aquifers (an underground layer of water-bearing permeable rock) that softened the subsoil.”
The authorities will now carry out a series of land surveys, a process that could take up to 30 days.
Officials from the National Water Commission, the National Centre for Preventive Programs and Disease Control, and Civil Protection are working together in the area in cooperation with the Puebla state authorities to determine what happened.
