A swimming pool party in an Israeli town turned into a horrific tragedy as a 32-year-old man died after a deep sinkhole suddenly opened up underneath and he got sucked into it along with the water.
“One man has been injured and another is missing after a sinkhole opened up in a inground pool at a home in central Israel.
The incident occurred during a pool party." pic.twitter.com/S9cByAFebx
— natureismetal (@NIMactual) July 21, 2022
The man, named in Israeli news reports as Klil Kimhi, was sucked into the 13-metre-deep cavity. The traumatic incident took place at Karmi Yosef, 40 kilometres southeast of Tel Aviv where he was attending a party with his corporate colleagues, according to a report in the Jerusalem Post.
Video footage of the incident shows people in swimming suits shouting in panic as they watch the pool’s water suddenly disappear into the sinkhole.
The video begins with the pool floor breaking and sinking inwards, sucking in most of the pool water in seconds. A man can be seen slipping towards the sinkhole, but he is quickly pulled behind by other individuals.
It took rescuers four hours to reach him – they had to work carefully as there were concerns more sinkholes could appear – but he was already dead.
Police said on Friday that a man and woman in their 60s are suspected of causing death by negligence. They have appeared in court and have been released under "restrictive conditions of house arrest" for five days.
Witnesses told Israeli news media that there were nearly 50 people at the party and six were in the pool.
Sinkholes can arise due to several reasons, but they often occur when the ground under the land surface dissolves into groundwater and is washed away, leaving an open cavern covered only by a thin layer of earth, according to the US Geological Survey.
