Sinkholes around the world - in pictures
From Guatemala to China, sinkholes come in all shapes and sizes
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Sinkhole in St Albans Photograph: Herts Fire Control
Photograph: Herts Fire Control
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A man inspects a sinkhole formed in a house this week in the north of Guatemala City. When neighbours heard the loud boom overnight they thought a cooking gas canister had detonated
Photograph: Johan Ordonez/AFP/Getty Images
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Taichung, Taiwan, 1999: A man looks at an earthquake-opened sinkhole filled with molasses spilled from nearby storage tanks Photograph: Toru Yamanaka/AFP/Getty
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Lighthouse Reef System, Belize, 2000: The Blue Hole is a karst-eroded sinkhole, the result of the repeated collapses of a cave system formed during lower sea level standsPhotograph: Christian Fevrier/bluegreenpic/Rex Features
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Orlando, US, 2002: Emergency personnel stand by a giant sinkhole that opened up inside the Woodhill Apartment complex, forcing dozens of residents to evacuate their apartmentsPhotograph: Phelan M Ebenhack/AP
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New York, US, 2006: A Ford Explorer sits nose-first inside a 15ft by 20ft-wide sinkhole in the Bay Ridge section of BrooklynPhotograph: New York Daily News Archive/Getty Images
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La Jolla, US, 2007: A massive sinkhole in the Mount Soledad neighbourhoodPhotograph: Kent Horner/Getty Images
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Guatemala City, Guatemala, 2007: A giant sinkhole, 150 metres deep and 20 metres wide, in the neighbourhood of San Antonio. The sink hole swallowed close to twenty homes and left three people missingPhotograph: Ulises Rodriguez/EPA/Corbis
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Jordan, 2008: A sinkhole near the Ein Gedi Spa on the shores of the Dead SeaPhotograph: Jonathan Nackstrand/AFP/Getty
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Picher, US, 2008: Years of lead and zinc mining turned the town into a superfund site with sinkholes, lead-laced mountains of rock, and tainted waterPhotograph: Charlie Riedel/AP
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Texas, US, 2009: The Devil's Sinkhole, with people gathered to view batsPhotograph: Chris Howes/Wild Places Photogra/Alamy
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Beijing, China, 2010: Workers inspect a sinkholePhotograph: AFP/Getty
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Guatemala City, Guatemala, 2010: A sinkhole covers a street intersection after tropical storm Agatha hit the areaPhotograph: Moises Castillo/AP
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Oman: The Bimah Sinkhole, a limestone crater filled with blue-green water, is a popular visitor attraction near QurayatPhotograph: Dave G Houser/Corbis
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Three buildings collapsed after a huge hole appeared in, Guangzhou, Guangdong province, China on 28 Jan 2013. There are no casualties from the incident, which was near a metro tunnel construction site
Photograph: Imaginechina/Rex Features
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Shenzhen, China, 2013: workers examine a giant sinkhole. A security guard died after falling into the hole
Photograph: Xinhua/Landov/Barcroft Media
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Toledo, Ohio, 2013: A car at the bottom of a sinkhole caused by a burst water main on 3 July
Photograph: Lt. Matthew Hertzfeld/AP
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Nanjing, China, 2013: A driver has a lucky escape as he narrowly avoids plunging into a sinkhole that appeared suddenly in a road on 1 August
Photograph: HAP/Quirky China News/Rex Features
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Clermont, Florida, 2013: A sinkhole caused this building at Summer Bay resort to partially collapse. The 40-60ft hole opened up on 11 August, but no casualties were reported
Photograph: Gerardo Mora/Getty Images
