It’s probably time for residents in this Russian town to think about moving, because they’re living next to a gigantic sinkhole - that’s getting bigger and bigger by the day.

Some 20 holiday cottages have already been swallowed up by the astonishing crater near Solikamsk in central Russia’s Perm Krai region, and there is no sign yet that its growth is going to slow down.
Dramatic new aerial photographs show how the hole has engulfed the local area, and tripled in size in the last six months.

The crater, which appeared over a mine, mysteriously opened up in November 2014 after flooding.

Back then it had a diameter of just 65 by 100 feet.

But now it has grown to 400 by 410 feet, and continues to develop - with a terrifying depth of 250 feet, according to the Siberian Times.

The mine is owned by the world’s number one potash producer and geologists are still investigating why the ground opened up so dangerously.

Mine workers had already been evacuated when it began to flood before the collapse.

The mining company Uralkali has already been cleared of responsibility for the collapse.

And scientists are blaming an earthquake that hit the area around 20 years ago as being the catalyst that started the process of which resulted in the sinkhole.

The latest pictures have just been posted onto Russian social media site Odnoklassniki.

They have created a stir as several houses appear to have slid down the crater since the last images were taken.




(Pictures credited to CEN)