VIÑA DEL MAR (AFP) – A luxury apartment building standing just a few metres away from the beach with breathtaking views of the Pacific Ocean was meant to awe visitors.
However, intense rains that have lashed Chile in recent days caused a giant sinkhole to open underneath this high-end property in the resort city of Vina del Mar, prompting the evacuation of hundreds of residents.
The 13-floor building with 200 apartments worth up to USD500,000 each is now sitting atop a hole that is 15 metres long and 30 metres deep, the third such hole that opened here in less than a year. Sergio Silva, 77, one of the few residents still left at Euromarina II, was trying to shove some of his belongings into a car to take them to a safer place because more rains are expected.
“We are taking important things, not everything,” Silva told AFP.
Residents of the building that stands below Euromarina II, at sea level, have also had to abandon their homes for fear that it would collapse on them.
“Some people have left out of precaution. Those of us who remain are prepared in case of emergency or if we have to evacuate,” said Claudio Camus, 43, a resident of the Eurovista building that stands beneath Euromarina II.
