Sinkhole swallows truck in China

A truck in China was swallowed up by a giant 30ft deep and 20ft wide hole

A sinkhole, also known as a sink, snake hole, swallow hole, swallet, doline, or cenote, is a natural depression or hole in the Earth's surface caused by karst processes - for example, the chemical dissolution of carbonate rocks or suffosion processes in sandstone. Sinkholes may vary in size from 1 to 600 metres (3.3 to 2,000 ft) both in diameter and depth, and vary in form from soil-lined bowls to bedrock-edged chasms. Sinkholes may be formed gradually or suddenly, and are found worldwide.

A truck driver in China found himself in a precarious situation after his vehicle was swallowed up by the ground in the latest sinkhole incident. A giant 30ft deep and 20ft wide hole opened up beneath the man who was passing through Kunming, Yunnan province at the time.

‘There was a rumbling sound and the ground started to rock. At first I thought it was an earthquake,’ he told police.

‘Then there was a loud crack and I started to fall backwards as my truck was dragged into the hole.

‘It was terrifying. I had no idea how deep it was or how far I’d fall,’ he said. As in the case of a man at a golf course in Illinois, USA who recently found himself gobbled up by a hole, experts have said the hazard in China was caused by an underground river that dissolved the limestone rock foundation of the road.

Another man in Florida was killed by a giant sinkhole that sprung up in his bedroom. ‘It’s becoming more common as more and more rivers are diverted underground because of building developments on the surface,’ an expert said.

Zoo owner to live in lion’s den

Alexander Pylyshenko rests with African lioness Katya in his private zoo in the small Ukrainian city of Vasylivka on August 3, 2011. Now, he plans to return to the lions’ den for one year.

Leave aside living in a lions’ den even entering such a place is so much a daring act and even thinking about it makes one’s hairs stand on their roots. But for Alexander Pylyshenko, the Ukrainian zoo owner, this is not a frightening experience as he had already lived in the lion’s for five weeks in 2011.

Now, Alexander Pylyshenko plans to live with lions again. But this time around, he's pledging to reside among the large felines for one year.

According to the Russian-language newspaper Segodnya, Pylyshenko will live in the lions’ den at his small, private zoo in Vasylivka for the next year to raise funds for the construction of a rehabilitation center for lions and other big cats. He set his fundraising goal at 365,000 UAH (nearly $45,000).

If Pylyshenko lives among the lions for an entire year, he'll surpass the current Ukrainian record of 35 days, which Pylyshenko himself set in 2011. At the time, the zoo owner lived in the same confines as two lions, sharing their sleeping quarters and their meals of raw meat, fed to the animals through the bars of the cage.

Given the extended duration he plans to live among the lions, Pylyshenko will split his time between the lions’ cage and his country house, where the felines will also join him.

In his leisure time, the zoo keeper plans to spend his days painting and writing a book about lions.

The date Pylyshenko plans to enter the cage is still undetermined. (He's waiting on potential donors.) But it's likely he'll begin his quest within the next year.