These jaw-dropping pictures give new meaning to the phrase 'a room with a view' as holiday homes teeter precariously over a gigantic 250ft deep sinkhole said to be visible from space.
Seawater used in nearby Russian mines has been blamed for causing the enormous crater - which has grown from 130ft across when it appeared last November to 400ft.
Latest images, taken from a helicopter, show the abyss threatening forests on two sides, as well as more homes now standing on the edge of the gaping precipice.
Operations at the Solikamsk-2 mine have since been suspended and 1,300 workers sent home. The decision was made by Uralkali, the company which owns the site in the Perm region of central Russia.
It is two miles from the nearest town but was a regular summer getaway destination until the holiday homes were abandoned in 2005 following concerns the ground was sinking.
One local source said as many as 20 cottages, unoccupied at the time, have now sunk into the chasm. The sinkhole measures 400ft by 410ft, according to Uralkali, the world's biggest potash producer.
Enormous: This pictures gives new meaning to the phrase 'a room with a view' as holiday homes teeter precariously over a gigantic 250ft deep sinkhole said to be visible from space
The root cause: Seawater used in nearby Russian mines has been blamed for causing the enormous crater - which has grown from 130ft across when it appeared in November to 400ft
On hold: Operations at the Solikamsk-2 mine have since been suspended and 1,300 workers sent home. The decision was made by Uralkali, the company which owns the site in the Perm region of central Russia.
The site is two miles from the nearest town but was a regular summer getaway destination until the holiday homes were abandoned in 2005 following concerns the ground was sinking
It is not the first time a sinkhole has opened up in the region, similar huge holes have appeared in the Yamal – or 'end of the world'.Locals have claimed to have seen missiles and even falling angels near the sinkholes. People have not slept for three days, waiting for new holes to appear.
Thousands of mine employees have since been told to keep away as geologists urgently look into why it happened.One theory is that a 20-year-old earthquake weakened the structure of the bedrock surrounding the mine making it unstable. Nobody living in the nearby town of Solikamsk was injured and experts have assured families that their homes are safe. But the unexpected crater has caused mass panic in the town and many residents are reported to be rushing to sell their homes.One local resident said: "People have not slept for three days, waiting for new holes."Another added: "The homes were empty when it happened, which was lucky. The nearest houses where people are living are two kilometres away."The whopping chasm has forced the closure of a nearby mine. The future of the mine, owned by the world's number one potash producer, is still unclear. It's believed to have reserves of around 150 million tons of potash but if the surrounding rock is too unstable the mine could be lost forever.
The cause of the sinkhole is said to be different to those that appeared in more northern regions earlier this year. Typically, Siberian craters occur in permafrost regions as melting frozen soils release trapped gases, causing blowouts and giant craters. The Siberian sinkholes are due directly to global warming.
For several years now, sink holes have been appearing in Russia, particularly, in Siberia where the perma frost is melting so rapidly it is undermining the crust of the earth .
Russian sink holes
These sinkholes is happening all over the world and yes man is the call of the collapsing .
ReplyDeleteGreat Post PIC
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ReplyDeleteThose things are frightening. One could open up right under you or me. What are we doing to our world?
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