Moment giant 15 metre deep sinkhole opens in the middle of a football field

Huge sinkhole opens up in US football pitch, video from KMOV, Alton Parks and Recreation

The moment a giant sinkhole opened up, leaving a cavernous pit in the middle of a football field was caught on CCTV.

A gaping hole suddenly emerges, at the southern Illinois sports complex, taking down a large lamp-post and opening up the astro-turf to a huge space below.

The hole is estimated to be at least 100 feet (30.5 metres) wide and up to 50 feet (15.2 metres) deep, said Michael Haynes, the city's parks and recreation director.

“It was surreal. Kind of like a movie where the ground just falls out from underneath you," Haynes told KMOV-TV.

Haynes said he doesn’t know how the sinkhole will be fixed but that engineers and geologists will most likely be involved in determining the stability of the ground and surrounding areas.

Both the park and roads around it are now closed indefinitely.

The field at Gordon Moore Park in Alton, Illinois was built above an area where limestone is mined about 170 feet below the surface.

Gravel provider, New Frontier Materials Bluff City, said the sinkhole resulted from “surface subsidence” at its underground mine in city, located about 25 miles (40 kilometers) north of St. Louis along the Mississippi River.

“The impacted area has been secured and will remain off limits for the foreseeable future while inspectors and experts examine the mine and conduct repairs," company spokesman Matt Barkett said.

“We will work with the city to remediate this issue as quickly and safely as possible to ensure minimal impact on the community.”

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