In late May, a giant sinkhole appeared on a farm in Mexico. As of June 2, the sinkhole had consumed 70,000 square feet of land, and it has grown to be larger than a football field. Thus far, no people have been killed. However, a house has been swallowed, and two dogs fell in as well.
This is a concerning situation in Mexico for people in the area because the gap is widening. Local officials are trying to find a solution, but this is a difficult situation to fix and predict moving forward.
Rescuing the Dogs
The sinkhole in Mexico has occurred in Pueblo, and the government has been very active throughout the situation. Officials have been providing regular updates and figuring out ways to repair the issue. The government was able to pull the dogs out of the sinkhole.
The government was not planning on saving the dogs because of the risk it provides to humans. However, animal rights activists begged the government to do something, and they safely retrieved the canines.
They were on a sinkhole ledge for four days, 50 feet above the water, collecting at the bottom of the hole. This was not an easy operation, so the Pueblo government deserves a lot of credit for the rescue.
It was believed to be too dangerous to rescue the animals for the first few days of them being in the sinkhole. In addition, the loose soil on the side of the sinkhole was unstable, making the mission undoable initially.
On Thursday, a local firefighter dropped into the hole using a ladder that dug into the ledges. He was also connected with a climbing setup for added safety.
Other first responders had a pulley system with cages that were used to pull up the two dogs after the firefighters locked up the animals. The animals were named Spay and Spike, and the government released photos of them with the veterinarian after being rescued.
The two dogs looked ecstatic to be out of danger. It’s believed that the two were playing on the farmland before they ventured too close to the hole and slipped into harm’s way.
Updates on the Sinkhole in Mexico
The sinkhole in Mexico is over 400 feet across at its longest point, and it’s still widening. Estimates have stated that the depth of the gap is 150 feet in some locations. However, water fills the sinkhole, so this estimate is not certain.
The government is not sending anyone into the crater to investigate, so it could be shallower or more profound.
Soldiers are patrolling the area to ensure that nobody gets too close to the sinkhole. People in the area must remain 2,000 feet from the sinkhole, which is 50 feet deep. Magdalena Xalamigua Xopillacle is one of the people in the area who have lost their house from this natural disaster.
She said, “It’s a very hard time for us. It hurts, because this is all that we have. At times we feel sick from so much sadness.”
There have been projections that the sinkhole was caused by excessive groundwater extraction by factories in the area. Although, others think an underground river was the problem.
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