Third body found in Guatemala sinkhole (WOW! pictures)

Chicago Sun-Times ^ | February 25, 2007

[lizol]

Third body found in Guatemala sinkhole

February 25, 2007

GUATEMALA CITY -- Emergency crews Saturday found a third body in a 330-foot-deep sinkhole that had swallowed a dozen homes and forced the evacuation of nearly 1,000 people in a crowded Guatemala City neighborhood.

The body of Domingo Soyos, 53, was carried out of the enormous fissure and identified by family members, medical crews said.

Soyos was the father of teenagers Irma and David Soyos, whose bodies were found floating in a river of sewage soon after the sinkhole opened Friday.

Residents said there were other people unaccounted for, but emergency crews could not confirm that.

Officials blamed recent rains and an underground sewage flow from a ruptured main for the tragedy. The pit emitted foul odors, loud noises and tremors, shaking the surrounding ground. A rush of water could be heard from its depths, and authorities feared it could widen or other sinkholes could open.

Police evacuated nearby homes and cordoned off a 500-yard perimeter around the crater. Security officials were on guard for possible looters and curious onlookers.

[Ghengis]

[reagan_fanatic]

Algore clutching an Oscar perhaps?

[AnAmericanMother]

Nope, we tested for it & we're o.k. (our slab is sealed and insulated). Plus we don't have a hermetically sealed house, which is where you have problems.

[JB in Whitefish]

Now maybe you comprehend the REAL meaning of a "real estate bubble bursting"...???

[Sawdring]

My thought exactly.

[Conservative4Ever]

Wowser. Notice the various colors in the layers of sediment. Interesting.

[Ghengis]

[Centurion2000]

that's a just damn moment.

[Centurion2000]

So that's what happens when someone uses a Talisman of Pure Good against an evil priest. (stupid D&D reference).

[Robert A Cook PE]

An open question for geology majors:

Given the depth and size of the hole, and the (very low) value of the property surrounding the hole, what do you do next?

Do you just abandon the "circle" around it, hoping the sides stay "vertical" and don't continue to cave in? I don't realistically see a way to fill it in, given the economy down there.

Downtown FL or just about anywhere in the center of a US city, it'd be filled in, or secured safely.

But down there?

[Tinian]

Thanks for posting those pics--they're truly mind boggling!

One question, though: where's the Heineken guy?

[cogitator]

Given the depth and size of the hole, and the (very low) value of the property surrounding the hole, what do you do next?

Devil's Millhopper State Park

First think I could think of ;-)

Winter Park Sinkhole

I guess the first real question is whether or not it can actually be stabilized.

[Robert A Cook PE]

So, when those Guatemalan buses (trucks?) fall in the hole, will they charge that $8.00 it takes to park in the LF sinkhole?

[I_be_tc]

later

[CarrotAndStick]

Police evacuated nearby homes and cordoned off a 500-yard perimeter around the crater. Security officials were on guard for possible looters and curious onlookers.

Maybe someone needs to step off the distance to make sure, but if that's 500 yards, then it looks like I can hit a nine iron about 500 yards in Guatemala.

Not sure if anyone else pointed it out to you, that 500 yard figure is in terms of perimeter, or circumference, and not measured radially.

[Safetgiver]

That’s a big stinkhole, alright.

[bigheadfred]

They say they can hear water moving. Make a real toilet out of it.

[HereInTheHeartland]

“Did you plug the hole daddy?”

[Robert A Cook PE]

No, no.

Between that pothole, the latest Iceland volcano, and Al Gore?

Obama is the biggest ashhole.

[thesharkboy]

“Have you seen my keys?”