'Sinkhole' swallows boats in English canal 'like Titanic film'

Narrowboat owners have told of the "scary" moment they watched a boat being swallowed by a large "sinkhole" which breached a canal in England.

A fire chief said it was extremely fortunate that no one was injured.

Some 12 people were rescued and a major incident near the border between England and Wales was declared after reports at 4:22 am on Monday of a hole emerging along the waterway, causing large volumes of water to escape onto land in the Chemistry area of Whitchurch.

Footage on YouTube channel Narrowboat Life Unlocked showed a boat plunging down into a hole while the sound of cracking wood was heard.

Another boat was filmed stranded in the hole as water flowed past it, with a third said to be hanging over the edge.

Phil Johnson, 56, said he woke up to "cracking and banging" and that he quickly got dressed and left his boat.

He said: "I saw the water flying past the boat at horrendous speed, I could hear like a waterfall around the corner from my boat.

"I went and had a look and was greeted by the most horrendous sight of seeing this boat stuck in the breach at the bottom, being basically flooded."

Johnson said he saw a second boat "teetering on the edge" of the hole before it slowly fell in.

He went on: "It's awful to say but it reminded me of that horrible scene from the Titanic film, because that's what it was like, when the back goes down and the bow comes up, and it finally just slid into the hole.

"It was horrible."

The local fire and rescue service said that three boats were caught in a developing sinkhole approximately 50 metres by 50 metres in size and that approximately 12 people from nearby moored boats were helped to safety.

Fire service area manager Scott Hurford said it was extremely fortunate that no one was injured during the "unusual" incident.

He said of the narrow boat residents: "It's my understanding that they recognised the water level was dropping and started to do their own evacuation and raised the emergency services.

"When we came on scene we then supported the evacuation of those narrow boats."

The fire service area manager added: "We are used to flooding and we are experienced and knowledgeable in that, but not necessarily from the canal network.

"Pathways either side (of the canal) are used regularly by the community.

"It's very, very fortunate that there was no-one at that particular moment walking a dog or walking along the footpath."

West Mercia Police said in a statement: "There are currently no reports of any casualties, and residents are being assisted by the fire service."

The Canal & River Trust said six boats near to the breach site are not in water and that it is hoping to get them afloat in the next few days.

It said: "We are carrying out initial investigations into the possible cause of the breach and will provide more details in due course."