Sinkholes around the world - in pictures

Sinkhole in St Albans Photograph: Herts Fire Control Photograph: Herts Fire Control

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

Taichung, Taiwan, 1999: A man looks at an earthquake-opened sinkhole filled with molasses spilled from nearby storage tanks
Photograph: Toru Yamanaka/AFP/Getty

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 stands
Photograph: Christian Fevrier/bluegreenpic/Rex Features

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 apartments
Photograph: Phelan M Ebenhack/AP

New York, US, 2006: A Ford Explorer sits nose-first inside a 15ft by 20ft-wide sinkhole in the Bay Ridge section of Brooklyn
Photograph: New York Daily News Archive/Getty Images

La Jolla, US, 2007: A massive sinkhole in the Mount Soledad neighbourhood
Photograph: Kent Horner/Getty Images

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 missing
Photograph: Ulises Rodriguez/EPA/Corbis

Jordan, 2008: A sinkhole near the Ein Gedi Spa on the shores of the Dead Sea
Photograph: Jonathan Nackstrand/AFP/Getty

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 water
Photograph: Charlie Riedel/AP

Texas, US, 2009: The Devil's Sinkhole, with people gathered to view bats
Photograph: Chris Howes/Wild Places Photogra/Alamy

Beijing, China, 2010: Workers inspect a sinkhole
Photograph: AFP/Getty

Guatemala City, Guatemala, 2010: A sinkhole covers a street intersection after tropical storm Agatha hit the area
Photograph: Moises Castillo/AP

Oman: The Bimah Sinkhole, a limestone crater filled with blue-green water, is a popular visitor attraction near Qurayat
Photograph: Dave G Houser/Corbis

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

Shenzhen, China, 2013: workers examine a giant sinkhole. A security guard died after falling into the hole Photograph: Xinhua/Landov/Barcroft Media

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

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

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