GIANT HOLE OPENS UP IN GERMANY! 100ft

A giant crater 20 meters deep opened up in the German town of Schmalkalden on Monday. No one was hurt. Authorities say the landslide was caused by natural factors rather than mining.

A gaping hole 30 meters (98 feet) in diameter and 20 meters (65.6 feet) deep opened up in the eastern German town of Schmalkalden early on Monday morning. An empty vehicle plunged into it but no one was hurt, even though the chasm is in the middle of a residential area.

A total of 25 people were evacuated from six houses and soil is continuing to crumble from the edge of the crater, police said.

'Natural Cause' Likely

Ralf Luther, a regional official, said 10,000 to 12,000 cubic meters of soil had slipped. A line of garages right on the edge of the hole is at risk of plunging into it and cracks have appeared in nearby houses. Luther said residents were lucky not to have been hurt.

Experts are at the scene to find out what caused the hole. The environment and agriculture minister for the state of Thuringia, Jürgen Reinholz, said: "I assume that there is a natural cause for the landslide." He ruled out that salt mining could have been the cause.

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[link to www.spiegel.de]