40 foot sinkhole forms under Guatemalan woman's bed

When neighbours heard the loud boom overnight they thought a cooking gas canister had detonated. Instead they found a deep sinkhole the size of a large pot inside a home in a neighbourhood just north of Guatemala City. The sinkhole that appeared late on Monday was 12.2 metres (40 feet) deep and 80 centimetres (32 inches) in diameter.

"When we heard the loud boom we thought a gas canister from a neighboring home had exploded, or there had been a crash on the street," said Inocenta Hernandez, a 65 year-old widow. "We rushed out to look and saw nothing. A gentleman told me that the noise came from my house, and we searched until we found it under my bed," said Hernandez.



"Thank God there are only material damages, because my grandchildren were running around the house, into that room and out to the patio," she said. Police, members of the country's natural disaster office and water utility company officials came to visit the site.

Sinkholes, formed by the natural process of erosion, can be gradual but are often sudden. Guatemala City, built on volcanic deposits, is especially prone to sinkholes, often blamed on a leaky sewer system or on heavy rain.