Ten people were helped to safety after a sinkhole opened in the Shropshire Canal, pulling boats out and dumping large amounts of water onto surrounding land.
Emergency services declared a major accident after a 50-metre-long sinkhole breached the canal in the West Midlands, leaving boats teetering on the edge of a steep cliff or stuck at the bottom of the cavity.
Locals believed they had been caught in an earthquake when the collapse began in the early hours of Monday morning, and there were fears water could flow into the nearby town of Whitchurch.
No injuries were reported and people were assisted by the fire service, according to West Mercia Police.
Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service said it received reports of the canal bank collapsing at around 4.22am, with large amounts of water spilling onto surrounding land. “Three boats became stuck in a hole measuring approximately 50 meters by 50 metres, and their crews helped more than 10 members of the public to safety,” she said in a statement.
“Firefighters were working in difficult conditions with unstable ground and fast moving water, and crews immediately established upstream and downstream safety sectors and began mitigating the water flow using barge boards and water gate systems.”
About a dozen residents were backed from boats anchored nearby and taken to a community care center at the former Whitchurch Police Station, according to Fire Service Area Manager Scott Horford.
“A major incident was declared at 5.17am, but as of 8.30am the situation was stable with reduced water flow and no search and rescue activity ongoing,” he added.
The breach occurred on the Llangollen Canal near the New Mills Lift Bridge in Whitchurch, according to the Canal and River Trust, a charity that maintains 2,000 miles of historic canals and rivers in England and Wales. It is investigating the cause and working with agencies to restore water levels on both sides of the breach as quickly as possible.
“There are three or four boats in the canal affected by the collapse which happened so quickly. It is an absolute miracle that there were no casualties,” Shaw Abdul, a Shropshire county councillor, told the Shropshire Star at the scene.
“We were absolutely shocked when we saw it. It’s a complete hole, it’s devastating, especially for the people who use this area often. It’s sad, with Christmas coming up, but most importantly no one was hurt.”
Andy Hall, another Whitchurch city councillor, told the BBC that people initially thought there had been an earthquake. “To the right, we have the field that probably took about a million gallons of water out of the canal,” he said.
“The most important thing was that the canal itself had been secured through fire and rescue operations. Their biggest concern was that the canal would burst further and drown the city’s residents.”
It remains unclear whether sinkholes are on the rise in the UK, as many have never been recorded. However, there are sporadic increases in crater formation, usually associated with prolonged periods of heavy rainfall.