Giant German pothole swallows car
Miraculously, neat private homes on either side of the street remained standing.
The cause was unclear. Germany occasionally experiences potholes when ancient mines collapse or water creates cavities in areas of karst rock.
The slump, measuring 40m by 30m, hit Schmalkalden, a small town in Germany's central hill country, 120km northeast of Frankfurt. A resident phoned police at about 03:00 after hearing a loud noise.
Residents were evacuated from 23 buildings, but nobody was injured.
A police spokesperson in the nearby city of Suhl said officers guessed the hole was 20m deep, but no one dared go close to look over the edge.
Mayor Thomas Kaminski said a helicopter was being hired to take aerial photographs and measurements.
N24 television quoted Fred Jaeger, another police spokesperson, saying that police were checking claims by residents who remembered there had been a Second World War air-raid bunker under the street.
