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A sinkhole in Guatemala City
A sinkhole that swallowed a factory in Guatemala City. In April 2007 another sinkhole in the same area killed three people. Photograph: Moises Castillo/Associated Press
A sinkhole that swallowed a factory in Guatemala City. In April 2007 another sinkhole in the same area killed three people. Photograph: Moises Castillo/Associated Press

Guatemala City residents fearful after factory disappears into sinkhole

This article is more than 13 years old
Experts investigate cause of 20-metre sinkhole in Guatemala City, where three people were killed in a similar disaster in 2007

Guatemala City residents have been warned to prepare for further sinkholes after a natural disaster swallowed an entire crossroads and a three-storey textile factory last weekend, leaving a massive vertical hole in the ground.

The building was empty and nobody was killed or injured.

Images of the crater, 20 metres across, 30 metres deep and nearly perfectly round, were published around the world — prompting complaints that the picture had been manipulated. But city officials said the crater was both real and round. An even bigger and similarly shaped hole consumed several homes killing three people about a mile away in February 2007.

"We are sinking," said resident Carlos Ajanel. "Nobody can rule out the appearance of more holes and the possibility of a major human catastrophe."

An investigation of the 2007 disaster blamed the city's drainage system, which experts believe also caused the more recent one.

David Monterroso, a geophysics engineer at the National Disaster Management Agency, said buildings within 100 metres of the hole had been evacuated while his team evaluated the solidity of the ground with radar. "It's evident that we need a full revision of the drainage system," he said.

He said underground sewage leaks could have created a cavity that collapsed when the weight of the porous volcanic ground above increased during heavy rain. Ash from a nearby volcano that erupted a few days before may also have put extra pressure on the drains.

He added that once the hole had dried out experts would go down to analyse the soil.

Pablo Taracena was watching television at home next door to the doomed factory when he realised something was wrong. "The feeling was similar to the one you get when a lift stops suddenly, only much stronger," he told El Periodico newspaper. "There was a lot of noise and shaking, and then I got out of the house."

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