Tel Aviv

A man died tragically after a sinkhole on the surface of the swimming pool opened up spontaneously, dragging him and another man into a 43-foot-deep hole. The incident took place in Israel’s Karmi Yosef town, about 40 kilometres southeast of Tel Aviv.

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While the other man managed to claw back his way out, the 32-year-old couldn’t survive. The incident took place during a pool party held for employees of a private company.

The Times of Israel newspaper reported that the rescue operations took at least four hours to retrieve the man's body from the deep hole on July 21. He has been identified as Klil Kimhi. Officials have been unable to determine the exact cause of his death—whether he drowned, was crushed, or died from the fall.

A video of the incident went viral on social media, showing how two men got swept away by the receding water, while many had a close shave after the sinkhole in the in-ground swimming pool opened up. There were six individuals in the pool at the time and they escaped unharmed.

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The rescue services, who required the assistance of Go-Pro cameras, said that it was a complicated mission as there were concerns that tunnels branching out of the sinkhole could trigger a secondary collapse.

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The rescue personnel constructed a support system to prevent the pool’s surface from falling on them before trying to locate the body.

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One of the witnesses told Channel 12 that there were roughly 50 people at the scene when the incident happened.

“The water level suddenly started receding and a hole opened up, creating a vortex that swept two people inside,” the witness was quoted as saying.

There could have been more victims, but there were only six people in the pool at the time, according to a witness who spoke to the Ynet news website.

The witness claimed that the victim was swallowed up by the vortex in a matter of seconds.

(With inputs from agencies)

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