Wednesday 2 July 2014

Seven-year-old girl swallowed by 8 m sinkhole in Derbyshire, England.

A seven-year-old girl has escaped with cuts and bruises after falling into an 8 m sinkhole near her home in Shuttlewood, Derbyshire. Daisy-Mae Jones was playing with friends in a field near her home when she fell into the whole, which was about a meter across and covered by long grass. She was rescued shortly after by a neighbour with a ladder.

Daisy-Mae Jones with her mother,  Janine Jones, close to the Shuttlewood sinkhole. Chad.

Sinkholes are generally caused by water eroding soft limestone or unconsolidated deposits from beneath, causing a hole that works its way upwards and eventually opening spectacularly at the surface. Where there are unconsolidated deposits at the surface they can infill from the sides, apparently swallowing objects at the surface, including people, without trace.

The cause of this particular sinkhole has yet to be determined, however the area has a history of mining, and it is possible that the incident was caused by sediment subsiding into a disused mineshaft. The sinkhole is under investigation by The Coal Authority.

The approximate location of the Shuttlewood sinkhole. Google Maps.

See also...


Three homes were evacuated after a 7.5 m wide sinkhole oppened up in Rippon, North Yorkshire, on...


A sinkhole 50 m across and 40 m deep opened up near the village of Foolow in the Peak District, Derbyshire, England, early in the morning of Monday 30 December 2013. No buildings were damaged nor any injuries reported, but a power line was broken and had to be re-routed following the event.




The British Geological Survey recorded a Magnitude 1.2 Earthquake in Derbyshire, England, close to the Peak...

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